Co-existing Conditions

The most common problems that need further medical evaluation in surgical patients are cardiac (heart) and pulmonary (lung) diseases. Specifically, coronary artery disease (blocked blood vessels on the heart), asthma, and emphysema (COPD) are medical conditions that most often require further testing or treatment prior to elective surgery. Surgery and anesthesia can be very stressful and, coupled with the above diseases, can lead to adverse outcomes (example: heart attack after surgery) that can threaten patients' well being, or even their lives. Obviously, a variety of patients with many different diseases still need and receive operations. Thus, a major goal of the perioperative physician is to diagnose and treat any coexisting medical conditions, so as to minimize the risk of the aforementioned adverse outcomes.