Preoperative laboratory testing: should any tests be "routine" before surgery?

ABSTRACT

Routine preoperative testing of all patients before elective surgery is unjustified. The frequency of unanticipated abnormalities or abnormalities shown to change patient management is too low to justify a practice pattern of testing all patients. Furthermore, little evidence exists that test result abnormalities are associated with perioperative morbidity. Table 12 lists a compilation of the findings from this article and recommendations regarding routine testing.