Perioperative care of the patient with a multisystem inflammatory (rheumatic) disease has become increasingly complex and perioperative medicine has evolved into its own subspecialty. Physicians who have expertise in managing patients with rheumatic disease infrequently spend significant time also managing patients undergoing surgical procedures, and the reverse is equally true. Despite the burgeoning literature on the medical management of the surgical patient, scant data have been generated regarding patients with complex rheumatic disease.



Perioperative Management of Patients with Rheumatic Disease fills a conspicuous gap in the literature and aims at providing a paved path for rheumatologists--who infrequently manage surgical problems--and medical consultants--who only seldom encounter patients with rheumatic diseases--to tread as they care for patients in the perioperative period. The book addresses discrete management issues from the perspective of the medical subspecialist and also offers concise descriptions of surgical procedures. Written from the surgical perspective for the internist, the surgical procedure chapters include a brief description of relative contraindications, time to recovery, rehabilitation suggestions, and comments regarding common and severe procedure specific postoperative complications.