Perioperative point-of-care-testing of plasmacholinesterases identifies older patients at risk for postoperative delirium: an observational prospective cohort study.

Background: Postoperative delirium (POD) is a severe perioperative complication that may increase mortality and length-of-stay in older patients. Moreover, POD is a major economic burden to any healthcare system. An altered expression of Acetylcholine- and Butyrylcholinesterases (AChE, BuChE) due to an unbalanced neuroinflammatory response to trauma or an operative stimulus has been reported to play an essential role in the development of POD.

[Perioperative patient blood management in the aged-more than only transfusion? : Review of the 4th symposium of the working group on anemia on the occasion of the annual meeting of the German Geriatric Society in Frankfurt 2019].

Anemia is frequent in older people with one in two geriatric inpatients being affected. Therefore, in elective surgery, such as endoprosthetic treatment it is very likely that anemia is already present in a preoperative setting. So far there are no particular guidelines about perioperative management of anemia in geriatric patients.

Machine Learning to Detect Alzheimer's Disease from Circulating Non-coding RNAs.

Blood-borne small non-coding (sncRNAs) are among the prominent candidates for blood-based diagnostic tests. Often, high-throughput approaches are applied to discover biomarker signatures. These have to be validated in larger cohorts and evaluated by adequate statistical learning approaches.

[Prevention of delirium in the intensive care unit].

A delirium in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) is a manifestation of a severe acute dysfunction of the brain. It has a high prevalence and is associated with a relevant increase in morbidity and mortality. A cholinergic deficit and dopaminergic overactivity are considered to be a cause of delirium.

[The geriatric syndrome of anemia-Summary of the symposium of the working group anemia during the annual meeting of the German Geriatric Society 2018 in Cologne, Germany].

This year's symposium of the working group anemia of the German Geriatric Society (DGG) aimed to underline the multicausality of anemia in the aged and to highlight definition parallels with geriatric syndromes. For these reasons, nutritional and malignant causes for anemia were discussed and the influence of oxidative stress on the development of anemia was underlined. The need for ongoing research in the field of anemia in the aged was emphasized by the lack of perioperative transfusion strategies in geriatric patients.

Prehabilitation is better than cure.

Purpose Of Review: With a continuously growing number of older patients undergoing major surgical procedures, reliable parameters practicable in perioperative routine revealing those patients at risk are urgently needed. Recently, the concept of 'prehabilitation' with its key elements exercise, nutrition and psychological stress reduction especially in frail patients is attracting increasing attention.

Recent Findings: Literature search revealed a huge amount of publications in particular within the last 12 months.

[Preoperative risk identification using the Identification of Seniors at Risk? : Suitability as sole screening tool for inpatient aged risk patients].

Background: As more aged patients are surgically treated in hospitals without specialized geriatric care, patients at risk for perioperative complications must be identified and treatment must be adapted. The aim was the use of the Identification of Seniors at Risk (ISAR) as a screening tool for the identification of high-risk patients, who need specialized perioperative care. The study presented investigated the use of ISAR screening not only as recommended in the emergency room but also in validation tests as a new option in elective surgery.

Intra- versus postoperative initiation of pain control via a thoracic epidural catheter for lumbar spinal fusion surgery.

Background: Thoracic epidural anesthesia (TEA) is one of the pillars of perioperative pain care. Particularly for spine surgery which causes significant postoperative pain TEA seems like an appealing option. However, beneficial effects of a TEA are questionable when the catheter is not used intraoperatively, a decision that is usually based on the surgeon's wish to perform immediate neurological examination postoperatively.

[Preoperative Evaluation and Arrangements: The Elderly Patient].

Unlabelled: With a constantly growing portion of elderly within our population and the advances of modern medicine, surgery on aged and very aged patients has become a daily hospital routine. Due to the physical and mental features of ageing these patients face special perioperative risks. They display a higher rate of complications, morbidity and cognitive deficits which might in the end lead to persisting need of care.

How to prevent perioperative delirium in the elderly?

Due to increasing life expectancy, the number of elderly patients needing surgical care is increasing. Improvements in surgical techniques and anesthetic procedures offer the opportunity of surgical intervention even in frail patients. Delirium on admission to the hospital or in the perioperative setting is a common and often serious complication.