What are the risks in having an operation when you have COPD.?

Question

My husbands aunt went in for an operation on her ankle after a fall and now she can not breathe on her own. She has COPD but is not on 24hr oxygen. She is in ICU because she dosnt have enough oxygen in her blood. They are keeping her asleep until they get it up. She had the operation on sunday. They said they would keep her on ventilators for a few more days. We are so confused about what will come next. Any advice would be great.

Answer 1

Anyone with a chronic airway disease (which is what chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is) is at risk when undergoing general anesthesia. In COPD this is especially true because the person is used to being chronically hypoxic, that is, having a depressed respiratory drive even in the face of high CO2 levels in the blood stream. COPD means that there is inefficient gas exchange in the lungs all the time. The trick will be weaning her from the ventilator onto oxygen supplementation. It may take a few days or more to do this. They are keeping her sedated in order to decrease the oxygen demand on her body. When they are ready to wean her from the vent, they will wake her up and then decrease the settings on the ventilator until she is doing all the work of breathing herself. Then they will pull out the endotracheal breathing tube and try her on face mask oxygen. If she does not tire from this, the chances are good that she would be discharged from the hospital in a matter of days once she has had the breathing tube removed.
The risk with being on a ventilator is that the longer you are on one, the more likely you are to pick up a respiratory infection.
My only advice is to listen to the doctors, they are assessing your aunt hour by hour. Given her COPD, this kind of setback is not unexpected. How old she is will also play a factor in her recovery. Just stimulate her when she is awake and speak to her when she isn't, she can still hear you while sedated.

Answer 2

The risks are increased when you have copd , I have it myself but mine is likely much worse since I'm on 24hr oxygen. Before I became this bad I had successful cervical surgery and a disc replacement in my neck and was very frightened that the doctor said there was a great chance I may have a heart attack during the procedure. This happened 7 years ago before I was on oxygen. I suspect she just needs extra recovery time due to the copd. They are likely keeping her asleep to prevent her from having a panic attack and further breathing complications . I expect they will soon begin weening her slowing from the ventilator as her own lungs can take over the job. Given she has copd this is not surprising and I feel she will be ok and taken off the ventilator probably late tuesday or sometime wensday . Best wishes , if you have any other questions I'm pretty knowledgable in this area as I've had it myself for many years, just click on my face and email me from my page and I'll try and provide an answer to your questions.

Answer 3

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RE:
What are the risks in having an operation when you have COPD.?
My husbands aunt went in for an operation on her ankle after a fall and now she can not breathe on her own. She has COPD but is not on 24hr oxygen. She is in ICU because she dosnt have enough oxygen in her blood. They are keeping her asleep until they get it up. She had the operation on sunday....

Answer 4

They will try to slowly take her off of the vents. As she is able to she will breath on her own. The use of an incentive spirometer will help as well as deep breathing and coughing. If she needs the vent longer than a couple of weeks they should give her a tracheotomy to prevent scaring on the trachea from the intubation tube.
The COPD puts her at a higher risk for pneumonia post anesthetic and ventilation

Answer 5

yes it does. I have COPD. My mom and dad had COPD. My mom had Severe copd and was 80 and had a serious LONG surgery.. It was a huge risk, but was totally necessary. Her lungs did fine and she was breathing without a respirator in NO time after surgery was over. Lived many more years.

Answer 6

My husband has severe COPD with emphysema. He has less than 30% use of his lungs. Several months ago, after a battery of tests, a cancerous tumor was found in one of his kidneys. The cancer is slow growing & the doctor told him he has unknowingly had it for a long time. However, his kidneys are working fine. A surgeon at the VA hospital in Augusta told him he would have to have the kidney removed & could use robotic surgery to do it with success. However, his pulmonologist is concerned that he won't survive the surgery despite the surgeon's concern.
My husband is considering having the surgery & has an appointment in a few months with his pulmonologist. I am so afraid he will not survive this ordeal. Can I get any medical advice on this?

Answer 7

the use of the ventilator is to expand the lung tissues to exchange O2 and CO2- its a difficult challenge. with copd the lungs ducs and sacs that hold oxygen have collapsed. with rigorous pulmonary exercise, the objective is to open all her "airways" until her blood is fully oxygenated so that it can deliver blood to her vital organs.If her heart is strong thats a plus for her. good luck.

Answer 8

Copd And Anesthesia

Answer 9

She should have been monitored by a specialist throughout her surgery. At this point all you can do is wait, hope and trust her team knows what they are doing.

Answer 10

Iatrogenic (hospital-acquired) pneumonia or bronchitis, bronchial spasm/asthma attack. It is risky to operate on anyone who has breathing problems.