Updates to Thoracic Procedures: Perioperative Care and Anesthetic Considerations

Abstract

Thoracic surgery is a rapidly evolving field, as is the perioperative and anesthetic care of patients undergoing major thoracic surgery. As surgical techniques continue to evolve, new guidelines are needed to help standardize patient care. To this end, Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocols were created and have seen increasingly widespread adoption within the field of thoracic surgery. Despite their name, the scope of these protocols includes not only the postoperative period, but also helps guide care in the preoperative and intraoperative periods. Thus, ERAS pathways are relevant to both thoracic surgeons and anesthesiologists. This chapter aims to summarize current guidelines for managing patients undergoing thoracic surgery (from the preoperative period all the way through to postoperative care) by discussing recent updates within the field as well as some more well established tenets that remain relevant to the topic.