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Anesthetic Concerns for Spinal Surgery in the Elderly

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Treatment of Spine Disease in the Elderly

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Abstract

Geriatric patients can benefit significantly from spine surgery; however, their unique perioperative physiologic profile places them at increased risk of postoperative complications and prolonged recovery. Perioperative optimization focusing on each phase of surgical patient care can help minimize adverse outcomes. This begins with a preanesthetic consultation with additional attention to frailty, functional status, polypharmacy, cognitive ability, and postoperative delirium risk. Intraoperative management goals include the provision of analgesia, amnesia, akinesia, and hemodynamic stability, with the avoidance of excessively deep planes of anesthesia. Lastly, postoperative management with the emphasis on careful multimodal pain control and increased focus on postoperative delirium can assist in providing optimal care for this patient population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neuroanesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Priscilla Nelson & Philip C. Kuo

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  1. Priscilla Nelson
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  2. Philip C. Kuo
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Correspondence to Priscilla Nelson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

    Kai-Ming G. Fu

  2. Departments of Neurosurgery & Rehab Medicine, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Michael Y. Wang

  3. Department of Neurological Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Michael S. Virk

  4. Dept. of Orthopedic Surgery, Leatherman Spine Center, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    John R. Dimar II

  5. UCSF Neurosurgery, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Praveen V. Mummaneni

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Nelson, P., Kuo, P.C. (2023). Anesthetic Concerns for Spinal Surgery in the Elderly. In: Fu, KM.G., Wang, M.Y., Virk, M.S., Dimar II, J.R., Mummaneni, P.V. (eds) Treatment of Spine Disease in the Elderly. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12612-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12612-3_4

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