Preoperative and postoperative management of patients undergoing major upper gastrointestinal surgery

Abstract

Modern surgery of the gastrointestinal tract is a very safe procedure in patients who are healthy, apart from the specific problem for which they are having their operation. Furthermore, whether a patient is generally fit can usually be ascertained simply from the history. Thus, regardless of age, if patients live an independent existence, do their own shopping and gardening and can walk up several flights of stairs without difficulty, the likelihood of a battery of preoperative tests turning up some abnormality critical to the outcome of an operation is remote.