Early Adverse Effects in the Postoperative Period

The recognition that the immediate postanaesthetic period is a time of high risk of morbidity and mortality was first addressed by the report of the Anaesthesia Study Commission of the Philadelphia County Medical Society in 1947. This eleven-year study reported on 307 patients who died within 24 hours of the induction of anaesthesia. Nearly half these deaths were classified as preventable, and in 63% of this group death was considered primarily due to unrecognised airway obstruction. All occurred in the immediate postanaesthetic period [1].