1991 Volume 22 Issue 4 Pages 585-587
There are many preoperative complications with regard to morbid obesity, and such patients tend to develop hypoxemia during surgery. They are therefore considered as high risk patients in anesthetic management. We have experienced two obese patients whose body weights exceeded 250 % of the standard value. One patient, a 17-year-old male 178 cm in height and 178 kg in weight, underwent removal of a lipoma from his right buttock in the left lateral position and under general anesthesia. The other patient was a 30-year-old male 180 cm in height and 195 kg in weight. He underwent extraction of the pilonidal sinus in the prone position and under spinal anesthesia. The courses of anesthesia were uneventful in both cases. The two cases are described and the implications of morbid obesity in regard to anesthesia are discussed.
