title: Frailty and anesthesia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review will deliberate on contemporary concepts regarding the frailty syndrome and its association with the perioperative period. Frailty syndrome and its relevance to organ systems, scoring tools and intervention measures will be discussed in detail.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Frail patients have a reduced ability to respond to physical stress, similar to a decreased physiological reserve in the perioperative period. Frailty assessment is gaining popularity as a tool to guide medical interventions in the elderly population. Various measurement tools for preoperative frailty assessment were developed and show promising ability to predict perioperative morbidity, mortality and possibly to guide patient selection and intervention. Preoperative optimization for the frail patient shows mixed results.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Preoperative frailty is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Recently, frailty assessment tools have been developed and show good ability to predict postoperative adverse events. These tools might become a preoperative routine, as they set the ground for patient's selection, guide perioperative interventions for the frail elderly population and thus may influence patient's outcome.
authors.affiliation: Division of Anesthesiology, Pain and Intensive Care, Sackler Medical School, Tel Aviv Medical Center, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: Lior
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shem Tov
authors.forename: Idit
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Matot
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000758:Anesthesia / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D016330:Frail Elderly; D000073496:Frailty / Q000150:complications*; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D059035:Perioperative Period; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016896:Treatment Outcome