Preanesthetic assessment of the patient with respiratory disease

Both chronic and acute pulmonary disease affect the outcome of anesthesia. Good preoperative assessment is important to delineate the disease, assess pulmonic reserve, and identify patients at risk for postoperative complications. Pulmonary function testing has been used extensively and in some, but not all, instances and may be a good prognostic indicator. In this article appropriate preanesthetic evaluation and the means to decrease postoperative complications in different respiratory diseases are discussed.