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The Severely Obese Patient

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Anesthesia in High-Risk Patients

Abstract

The progression of the prevalence of obesity worldwide should be preoccupying in the field of anesthesiology. In addition to the multisystemic morbidities, the respiratory and cardiac morbidity associated with severe obesity needs to be very well investigated prior to surgery and during the perioperative period. More essential is the evaluation and the management of the superior airway in this population presenting many risk factors for difficult ventilation and intubation. The perioperative ventilation should include systematic use of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). Furthermore, the use of multimodal analgesia during the postoperative period allows adequate analgesia without using too much narcotics.

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Correspondence to Jean S. Bussières .

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Tremblay, L., Bussières, J.S., Poirier, P. (2018). The Severely Obese Patient. In: Fellahi, JL., Leone, M. (eds) Anesthesia in High-Risk Patients. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60804-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-60804-4_12

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