Perioperative respiratory care in obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery: Implications for clinical practice

Obesity is an increasing problem worldwide. The number of people with obesity doubled since the 1980's to affect an estimated 671 million people worldwide. Obese patients in general have an altered respiratory physiology and can have an impaired lung function, which leads to an increased risk of developing pulmonary complications during anaesthesia and after bariatric surgery (approximately 8%). Therefore the respiratory management of the bariatric surgical patient provides a number of challenges. This review will focus on the perioperative respiratory care in bariatric surgical patients discussing respiratory physiology in the obese and perioperative respiratory care in bariatric surgery. Finally the value of preoperative pulmonary function testing and preoperative OSAS screening will be discussed.