[The anesthetist's point of view in the surgical treatment of morbid obesity]. / Le point de vue de l'anesthésiste dans le traitement chirurgical de l'obésité morbide.

The anaesthetic management of candidates for weight-reducing surgery requires a good evaluation of the repercussions of pathological obesity on cardiovascular and respiratory function. The operative risk is increased in obese subjects due to technical difficulties, mainly during intubation, and to postoperative respiratory and thromboembolic complications. The combination of general anaesthesia and thoracic peridural, when it is possible, is an ideal technique for the anaesthetic management of these patients. It must be performed by specialized personnel in a specialized environment. The objective of this management is to assess the operative risk, and to reduce it to an acceptable level by appropriate preoperative management taking into account the expected benefit of the surgical procedure.

[Routine examination for the presence of antierythrocyte antibodies. Practical consequences with regard to indications for transfusion in a surgical context (author's transl)]. / Recherche systématique des anticorps antiérythrocytaires. Conséquences pratiques sur l'attitude transfusionnelle en milieu chirurgical.

Routine examination in pre-operative patients revealed the presence of anti-erythrocyte antibodies in 1.23 per cent of cases. Such examination made it possible to avoid, despite strict compability in ABO Rhesus groups, a transfusional immunological conflict in 0.45 per cent of cases, i.e. 7 patients in one year. This provides preventive cover wihich would seem, in surgical context, to be the easiest ti undertake, the most reliable and, in fact, the most economical: widened application of examinations for anti-erythrocyte antibodies together with the avoidance of all unnecessary transfusions.