General Aspects of Thoracic Anesthesia

Thoracic anesthesia, a fascinating subspecialty, provides perioperative medicine for a spectrum of dynamically evolving surgical procedures ranging from classical thoracotomies to minimally invasive and ultra-minimally invasive video or robotically assisted procedures. Its core mission is to provide optimal surgical conditions by deflating the operative lung while providing adequate oxygenation and avoiding injury to the ventilated lung. Thoracic anesthesia also provides preoperative care to achieve best possible health status before surgery and improves postoperative recovery by providing means of pain therapy and enhanced recovery following some of the most painful procedures in patients …