I was supposed to have the Gastric Bypass surgery, but they found out I had a cold and was coughing up green phlegm. So they scheduled me for Monday. My question is in the topic, why is it dangerous to go under anesthesia with a cold? Can you develop something worse like pneumonia? If so, how does that happen?
IANAD.
It’s undesirable for a number of reasons.
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During surgery you will have a tube down your throat into your trachea, because of which infecting your lungs becomes very easy especially if you already have an upper respiratory tract infection.
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You will be quite sedentary for a period after your op. I had major abdominal surgery in August 2006 (only one of many), and I was pretty much bedridden for 6 weeks and off work for 4.5 months (not suggesting you will experience a recovery period that long). Whilst you’re not moving around, it’s easy for minor respiratory infections to progress to major respiratory infections because it is harder for you to clear the gunk out as you would if you were healthy and moving around.
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If you have an infection in your chest you probably won’t be getting oxygen into your blood as effeciently as possible, reducing your O2 saturation, which can cause quite serious problems during the operation and immediately after it.
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Being in a weakened condition before you go under GA makes it harder on your body which increases the risks that the general anaesthesia naturally poses.
IAAD. And Szlater pretty much nailed it.
Increased risk of respiratory difficulties both during and after surgery.
And since it’s an elective procedure, and since anesthesiologists and surgeons hate complications, lots of surgeries get postponed for these reasons.
Is it truly always necessary to do so? Probably not. But erring on the side of caution is the basic principle. Primum non nocere and all that.