Anesthesia techniques

Abstract

The population of elderly patients is steadily increasing and therefore the number of those who need surgical procedures is rising as well. These patients are often affected by diseases related to old age such as: respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders, so that general anesthesia represents an increased risk. We studied 131 patients with a mean age of 79.6 (+ /- 4.1) undergoing urologic elective surgery. Ninety-eight patients received epidural or spinal anesthesia, 10 received general anesthesia (NLA II) and 28 blended anesthesia. Acute respiratory failure and cardiovascular complications were found during general anesthesia, on the other hand the spinal and epidural anesthesia showed only hypotension. Therefore, we prefer locoregional anesthesia in urologic surgery because it achieves a safe and efficient anesthesia with a low metabolic load in elderly patients at high anesthesiologic risk.