Anesthesia for elderly patients

Development in anesthesia and operative techniques has considerably reduced morbidity and mortality in the elderly patients. Several anesthetic techniques have been used for elderly patients including general anesthesia, regional anesthesia, intravenous sedation and monitored anesthesia care. However, anesthesia-related mortality in these patients is still high. All elderly patients undergoing surgical procedures require a preprocedural evaluation to assess the risks of anesthesia and procedure and to manage problems related to the preexisting medical conditions, monitoring patients during intraprocedural and postprocedural periods as well as postprocedural management. This article considers the age-related physiological changes, preprocedure assessment and preparation, anesthetic techniques, intraoperative care and postoperative care.