Postoperative Management for the Obese Patient

Obesity results in physiologic changes that effect nearly every organ system, including respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine, genitourinary, and neuropsychiatric. These changes are associated with complications in the postoperative period that the anesthesia provider must take into account when planning the anesthetic of the obese patient. Obesity is associated with obstructive sleep apnea, obesity hypoventilation syndrome, and restrictive-type changes in lung volumes that decrease the obese patient’s ability to compensate for the changes that take place with anesthesia. The anesthetic provider should conduct a thorough preoperative evaluation, ensure complete reversal of neuromuscular blockade prior to extubation to prevent obstruction, ensure adequate pain control without compromising respiratory function, and consider use of Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines for patients on home CPAP. Obesity is also associated with an increased risk of perioperative arrhythmias, thrombotic events, impaired wound healing, decreased kidney function, and postoperative cognitive decline. Anesthetic providers should make every effort to take steps in order to prevent these complications and be knowledgeable about their management should they occur. This review contains 3 figures, 2 tables, 37 references

Postoperative Management for the Obese Patient

Obesity results in physiologic changes that effect nearly every organ system, including respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, endocrine, genitourinary, and neuropsychiatric. These changes are associated with complications in the postoperative period that the anesthesia provider must take into account when planning the anesthetic of the obese patient. Obesity is associated with obstructive sleep apnea, obesity hypoventilation syndrome, and restrictive-type changes in lung volumes that decrease the obese patient’s ability to compensate for the changes that take place with anesthesia. The anesthetic provider should conduct a thorough preoperative evaluation, ensure complete reversal of neuromuscular blockade prior to extubation to prevent obstruction, ensure adequate pain control without compromising respiratory function, and consider use of Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines for patients on home CPAP. Obesity is also associated with an increased risk of perioperative arrhythmias, thrombotic events, impaired wound healing, decreased kidney function, and postoperative cognitive decline. Anesthetic providers should make every effort to take steps in order to prevent these complications and be knowledgeable about their management should they occur. This review contains 3 figures, 2 tables, 37 references

P006 Initiation of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure as an inpatient in Patients with Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome admitted to General Medical Unit

Background With higher rates of obesity in regional and rural Australian population, there will be higher rates of Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome (OHS). The cornerstone of the treatment of OHS is Positive Airways Pressure. We studied the initiation of Continuous Positive Airways Pressure (CPAP) in an inpatient setting in patients with OHS in the regional population of Ballarat and subsequent impact on their hospital stay/readmission. Methods We performed a retrospective study of 22 patients with OHS during the 6-month study period (01/07/2021–31/12/2021) admitted into General Medical Unit at Ballarat Base Hospital. Progress Complete Outcome/Impact The mean age in the cohort was 60 with average weight of 139.5 kg. The mean pCO2 and pH were 68.1 and 7.33 respectively. CPAP was initiated in 9 of 22 patients (40.1%) with mean of 7.3 days. Mean days of oxygen use was 4.7 days with mean length of hospital stay 10 days. We did not find any statistical difference in length of hospital stay, ICU stay, supplemental oxygen use or readmission rates between CPAP and non-CPAP group. Subgroup analysis showed that CPAP group had higher rates of COPD (44.4% vs 30.8%) and diabetes (44.4% vs 30.8%) with trend to lower FEV1 (mean FEV1 47.6% vs 57.2%). There were 4 deaths (16.7%), 3 of them did not have CPAP initiated. The longer duration to CPAP initiation is likely to explain the non-significant difference between the groups. Proactive measures to increase initiation of CPAP is likely to improve patient outcome in terms of their morbidity and mortality.