Preoperative risk scales in pediatric anesthesia: a narrative review
Abstract
Preoperative evaluation in pediatric patients is intended to identify risk factors that may be associated with perioperative complications. This assessment is often performed similarly to that of adults; however, children have specific considerations. Moreover, most scales designed for perioperative risk classification have not been validated in the pediatric population.
When evaluating a child preoperatively, in addition to predicting the risk of mortality, anesthesiologists are interested in identifying the risk of other outcomes, such as postoperative agitation and the need for premedication, the likelihood of a difficult airway, the risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting, the risk of respiratory complications, massive bleeding and transfusion requirements, peripheral nerve injury, and the risk of complications in patients with heart disease undergoing non-cardiac surgery.
This article reviews the scales used to predict the risk of adverse perioperative outcomes in the pediatric population, in order to raise awareness about the importance of risk management in this population to ensure safe and high-quality anesthetic care.
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