Routine preoperative tests for elective surgery. (NCGC)
Recommendations
Major Recommendations
Note from the National Guideline Clearinghouse: This guideline was developed by the National Clinical Guideline Centre (NCGC) on behalf of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). See the “Availability of Companion Documents” field for the full version of this guidance and related appendices.
The wording used in the recommendations in this guideline (for example, words such as ‘offer’ and ‘consider’) denotes the certainty with which the recommendation is made (the strength of the recommendation) and is defined at the end of the “Major Recommendations” field.
The tests covered by this guideline are:
- Chest X-ray
- Echocardiography (resting)
- Electrocardiography (ECG; resting)
- Full blood count (haemoglobin, white blood cell count and platelet count)
- Glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) testing
- Haemostasis tests
- Kidney function (estimated glomerular filtration rate, electrolytes, creatinine and sometimes urea levels)
- Lung function tests (spirometry, including peak expiratory flow rate, forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume) and arterial blood gas analysis
- Polysomnography
- Pregnancy testing
- Sickle cell disease/trait tests
- Urine tests
The recommendations were developed in relation to the following comorbidities:
- Cardiovascular
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Renal
- Respiratory
