BACKGROUND A key element in the postoperative phase of the standardized Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) treatment pathways is mobilization. Currently, there are no recommendations in the ERAS guidelines for preoperative physical activity. Patients undergoing major surgery are prone to functional decline due to the impairment of muscle, cardiorespiratory, and neurological function as a re...

Anesthesiology, V 123 • No 1 7 July 2015 S URGERY sets the old brain on fire and prehabilitation is a fire retardant. That is conclusion of an interesting study by Kawano et al.1 in this issue of AnEsthEsioloGY. specifically, they hypothesized that the old brain is more vulnerable than a young one to surgery-induced neuroinflammation because its innate immune cells, principally microglia, devel...

As the population ages, the health care system must to adapt to the needs of the older population. Hospitalization risks are particularly significant in the frail geriatric patients, with costly and morbid consequences. Appropriate preoperative assessment can identify sources of increased risk and enable the surgical team to manage this risk, through "prehabilitation," intraoperative modificati...