Preoperative Preparation of Patients for Thoracic Surgery

Abstract

The preoperative preparation of patients for thoracic surgery is complex and involves individuals from diverse subspecialties within the field of medicine. This issue of the Thoracic Surgery Clinics focuses on these interrelationships through contributions from the fields of nursing, law, pulmonary medicine, cardiology, and anesthesia, in addition to thoracic surgery. Although several of the authors are from Stanford University, I have attempted to provide some diversity in both geographical location and specialty training in the selection of authors for this issue. Because thoracic surgery encompasses a wide range of pathologic entities, I have attempted to cover ground that is common to many patients and disease processes (anesthetic concerns, preoperative teaching, legal issues of informed consent, smoking cessation, preoperative cardiac evaluation, antibiotic and deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis), as well as more