Common physiologic patterns in general surgical patients: hemodynamic and oxygen transport changes during and after operation in patients with and without associated medical problems.

An examination of perioperative cardiorespiratory parameters in surviving and nonsurviving patients has identified several physiologic responses to the stress of surgical trauma, namely enhancement of circulatory performance and oxygen transport. When specific subsets of surgical illness are examined, it was found that these responses often began from different plateaus of baseline function. Because these responses are greater in survivors than nonsurvivors and this relationship is fairly consistent among a variety of surgical illnesses, it would seem that duplicating or augmenting these responses would be a rational goal for therapeutic intervention that would lead to improved patient outcome.