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Anaesthesia in the morbidly obese
Author(s) -
BUCKLEY F. P.,
ROBINSON N. B.,
SIMONOWITZ D. A.,
DELLINGER E. P.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.1983.tb12249.x
Subject(s) - medicine , narcotic , anesthesia , general anaesthesia , local anaesthetic , general anaesthetic , morbidly obese , surgery , respiratory system , obesity , weight loss
Summary Seventy morbidly obese patients presented for upper abdominal surgery; 17% had pre‐existing cardiovascular disease and 23% pre‐existing respiratory disease. Twenty‐eight patients received general anaesthesia, plus narcotic analgesia postoperatively, and 42 general anaesthesia plus thoracic epidural analgesia intra‐ and postoperatively. Aspects of anaesthetic management are discussed and compared with previous similar reports. Doses of local anaesthetic for induction of epidural analgesia were less than those for the non‐obese but doses of local anaesthetic for maintenance of epidural analgesia were similar to those in non‐obese patients. Patients who had thoracic epidural analgesia required less volatile anaesthesia than the group who had general anaesthesia and narcotic analgesics. Postoperative respiratory complications were more common in patients with pre‐existing cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and occurred less frequently in patients who had thoracic epidural analgesia.