Eye surgery in the elderly

Elderly patients represent the majority of the surgical population scheduled for ophthalmological surgery. Eye surgery is usually minimally invasive, enabling most of the procedures to be performed as day-case surgery despite the high co-morbidity of these patients. This, however, requires a specific perioperative anaesthetic strategy. In this chapter we address features of perioperative care in the geriatric population undergoing eye surgery, from pre-medication and pre-operative testing, to choice and performance of anaesthesia, and finally to post-anaesthesia care.