Perioperative anemia: clinical practice update

ABSTRACT

Perioperative medicine is an evolving area of medicine in which collaboration between internists, hospitalists, surgeons and anesthesiologists is the key to delivering high-quality care. Research in all areas of perioperative medicine, including perioperative anemia, is constantly evolving. Perioperative anemia is a major contributor to mortality and morbidity in the perioperative period. It is associated with an increased likelihood of postoperative wound complications, infections, delirium, increased length of stay and increased risk of readmissions. However, there is a lack of comprehensive guidelines for management of perioperative anemia. We performed an exhaustive review of contemporary literature on perioperative anemia and present evaluation and management recommendations that have the potential to impact clinical practice in the perioperative period.

KEYWORDS:

• Clinical practice update
• preoperative anemia
• transfusion guidelines
• blood transfusion thresholds
• treatment of anemia
• evaluation of anemia

Declaration of financial/other relationships

The contents of the paper and the opinions expressed within are those of the authors, and it was the decision of the authors to submit the manuscript for publication.

Declaration of interest

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Acknowledgments

None stated

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received to produce this article