[Respiratory failure and surgery]

The question whether a patient may be amenable to surgery involving anesthesia depends on many different factors and can only be answered by the anesthetist-surgeon team. The internist, on the other hand, will determine the degree of functional impairment of particular organ systems and cooperate in preoperative preparation of the patient. Patients with obstructive pulmonary disease are particularly at risk, especially during the postoperative period. The search for pulmonary symptoms is therefore extremly important. The limiting values given in medical literature are not absolute. Through preoperative therapy, the choice of suitable anesthetic methods and optimal postoperative care in an efficient intensive care unit, the risk of perioperative mortality and morbidity for this "poor risk patient" can be reduced almost to the level of the average surgical patient.