Not Necessary for Healthy Patients Preoperative testing is not necessary for healthy surgical patients, reports a Mayo study published in the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings . Researchers studied a sample of medical records of Mayo patients who had no laboratory tests performed within 90 days before surgery. All of the 1,044 patients followed underwent anesthesia and surgery successfully and without incident. The study concludes that a patient's history and an examination are sufficient preoperative assessment for healthy patients.
Many hospitals perform routine laboratory screening tests prior to surgery.
Intraoperative testing can be used to react to surgical events if they arise. The study found that RA and OA patients received more care not just for their musculoskeletal problems but also for numerous other conditions including respiratory, heart, gastrointestinal and psychiatric. People with arthritis also had more charges for procedures, hospital care, imaging studies, physician services, laboratory tests and prescription drugs. The study appeared in a recent issue of The Journal of Rheumatology . OA is a common joint disease that affects virtually everyone as they get older.