New Aspects on Respiratory Failure

Surgical intervention and anaesthetics often lead to postoperative bronchopulmonary complications. This text presents an interdisciplinary synopsis of data concerning the pathophysiology, diagnostic evaluation and treatment of respiratory insufficiency.

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Surgical intervention and anaesthetics, including patient positioning and mechanical ventilation, change the mechanics of breathing and gas exchange in patients and often lead to post-operative bronchopulmonary complications. As numerous investigations have shown, the risk of developing complications can be up to six times greater in patients with pre-existing pulmonary pathology than in patients without this risk potential. The patients at greatest risk are those with severe post-traumatic or haemorrhagic shock, sepsis and prior burns, or a rejection crisis following transplantation. Such patients may develop ARDS, which is still associated with a high mortality rate. Thus respiratory insufficiency is, and will remain, a central problem for the anaesthetist both during the anaesthetic and in the postoperative phase. This volume presents an interdisciplinary synopsis of new aspects concerning the pathophysiology, diagnostic evaluation and treatment of respiratory insufficiency. It provides the physician with a particular interest in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine with an overview of the present state of our knowledge in terms of its therapeutic usefulness.
It also indicates the direction further developments can be expected to take in the optimal treatment of severely ill patients with respiratory insufficiency.