[Risk of anesthesia in respiratory diseases]

The risks attached to anaesthesia are considerably increased by the presence of a respiratory disease, especially in patients undergoing thoracic or upper abdominal surgery. Preoperative respiratory evaluation enables the risk of post-surgical respiratory complications to be measured according to the severity of the respiratory disease. This evaluation is mainly clinical, the results of lung function tests never providing criteria of fitness for anaesthesia. The frequency of respiratory complications is not influenced by the type of anaesthesia (general or local) or by the quality of postoperative analgesia. The risk of respiratory complications can be reduced only by pre- and postoperative management of the patient's lung disease.