Pre-operative evaluation Practice Questions

Question 1

A 36-year-old woman is brought to the emergency department 20 minutes after being involved in a high-speed motor vehicle collision. On arrival, she is unconscious. Her pulse is 140/min, respirations are 12/min and shallow, and blood pressure is 76/55 mm Hg. 0.9% saline infusion is begun. A focused assessment with sonography shows blood in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen. Her hemoglobin concentration is 7.6 g/dL and hematocrit is 22%. The surgeon decided to move the patient to the operating room for an emergent explorative laparotomy. Packed red blood cell transfusion is ordered prior to surgery. However, a friend of the patient asks for the transfusion to be held as the patient is a Jehovah's Witness. The patient has no advance directive and there is no documentation showing her refusal of blood transfusions. The patient's husband and children cannot be contacted. Which of the following is the most appropriate next best step in management?

Accepted Answer

Transfusion of packed red blood cells

Answer

Administer hydroxyethyl starch

Answer

Consult hospital ethics committee

Answer

Administer high-dose iron dextran

Question 2

A 57-year-old man presents to his physician with dyspnea on exertion and rapid heartbeat. He denies any pain during these episodes. He works as a machine operator at a solar panels manufacturer. He has a 21-pack-year history of smoking. The medical history is significant for a perforated ulcer, in which he had to undergo gastric resection and bypass. He also has a history of depression, and he is currently taking escitalopram. The family history is unremarkable. The patient weighs 69 kg (152 lb). His height is 169 cm (5 ft 7 in). The vital signs include: blood pressure 140/90 mm Hg, heart rate 95/min, respiratory rate 12/min, and temperature 36.6℃ (97.9℉). Lung auscultation reveals widespread wheezes. Cardiac auscultation shows decreased S1 and grade 1/6 midsystolic murmur best heard at the apex. Abdominal and neurological examinations show no abnormalities. A subsequent echocardiogram shows increased left ventricular mass and an ejection fraction of 50%. Which of the options is a risk factor for the condition detected in the patient?

Accepted Answer

Smoking

Answer

History of gastric bypass surgery

Answer

Exposure to heavy metals

Answer

Escitalopram intake

Answer

The patient’s body mass

Question 3

A surgeon is interested in studying how different surgical techniques impact the healing of tendon injuries. In particular, he will compare 3 different types of suture repairs biomechanically in order to determine the maximum load before failure of the tendon 2 weeks after repair. He collects data on maximum load for 90 different repaired tendons from an animal model. Thirty tendons were repaired using each of the different suture techniques. Which of the following statistical measures is most appropriate for analyzing the results of this study?

Accepted Answer

ANOVA

Answer

Chi-squared

Answer

Wilcoxon rank sum

Answer

Pearson r coefficient

Answer

Student t-test

Question 4

A researcher is trying to determine whether a newly discovered substance X can be useful in promoting wound healing after surgery. She conducts this study by enrolling the next 100 patients that will be undergoing this surgery and separating them into 2 groups. She decides which patient will be in which group by using a random number generator. Subsequently, she prepares 1 set of syringes with the novel substance X and 1 set of syringes with a saline control. Both of these sets of syringes are unlabeled and the substances inside cannot be distinguished. She gives the surgeon performing the surgery 1 of the syringes and does not inform him nor the patient which syringe was used. After the study is complete, she analyzes all the data that was collected and performs statistical analysis. This study most likely provides which level of evidence for use of substance X?

Accepted Answer

Level 1

Answer

Level 3

Answer

Level 4

Answer

Level 5

Answer

Level 2

Question 5

A 62-year-old man comes to the physician in May for a routine health maintenance examination. He feels well. He underwent a right inguinal hernia repair 6 months ago. He has hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus. There is no family history of serious illness. Current medications include metformin, sitagliptin, enalapril, and metoprolol. He received the zoster vaccine 1 year ago. He received the PPSV23 vaccine 4 years ago. His last colonoscopy was 7 years ago and was normal. He smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for 20 years but quit 17 years ago. He drinks two to three alcoholic beverages on weekends. He is allergic to amoxicillin. He is scheduled to visit Australia and New Zealand in 2 weeks to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary. He appears healthy. Vital signs are within normal limits. An S4 is heard at the apex. The remainder of the examination shows no abnormalities. Which of the following is the most appropriate recommendation at this time?

Accepted Answer

Influenza vaccine

Answer

Colonoscopy

Answer

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 13

Answer

Cardiac stress test

Answer

Abdominal ultrasound

Question 6

A 50-year-old woman comes to the physician for a routine health maintenance examination. She has no personal or family history of serious illness. She smoked one pack of cigarettes daily for 5 years during her 20s. Her pulse is 70/min, and blood pressure is 120/78 mm Hg. Serum lipid studies and glucose concentration are within the reference ranges. Which of the following health maintenance recommendations is most appropriate at this time?

Accepted Answer

Perform colonoscopy

Answer

Perform BRCA gene test

Answer

Perform abdominal ultrasound

Answer

Perform 24-hour ECG

Answer

Perform DEXA scan

Question 7

A 57-year-old man presents to the clinic for a chronic cough over the past 4 months. The patient reports a productive yellow/green cough that is worse at night. He denies any significant precipitating event prior to his symptoms. He denies fever, chest pain, palpitations, weight changes, or abdominal pain, but endorses some difficulty breathing that waxes and wanes. He denies alcohol usage but endorses a 35 pack-year smoking history. A physical examination demonstrates mild wheezes, bibasilar crackles, and mild clubbing of his fingertips. A pulmonary function test is subsequently ordered, and partial results are shown below:

Tidal volume: 500 mL
Residual volume: 1700 mL
Expiratory reserve volume: 1500 mL
Inspiratory reserve volume: 3000 mL

What is the functional residual capacity of this patient?

Accepted Answer

3200 mL

Answer

4500 mL

Answer

2000 mL

Answer

2200 mL

Answer

3500 mL

Question 8

A 69-year-old man is scheduled to undergo radical retropubic prostatectomy for prostate cancer in 2 weeks. He had a myocardial infarction at the age of 54 years. He has a history of GERD, unstable angina, hyperlipidemia, and severe osteoarthritis in the left hip. He is unable to climb up stairs or walk fast because of pain in his left hip. He had smoked one pack of cigarettes daily for 30 years but quit 25 years ago. He drinks one glass of wine daily. Current medications include aspirin, metoprolol, lisinopril, rosuvastatin, omeprazole, and ibuprofen as needed. His temperature is 36.4°C (97.5°F), pulse is 90/min, and blood pressure is 136/88 mm Hg. Physical examination shows no abnormalities. A 12-lead ECG shows Q waves and inverted T waves in leads II, III, and aVF. His B-type natriuretic protein is 84 pg/mL (N < 125). Which of the following is the most appropriate next step in management to assess this patient's perioperative cardiac risk?

Accepted Answer

Radionuclide myocardial perfusion imaging

Answer

No further testing

Answer

24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring

Answer

Treadmill stress test

Answer

Resting echocardiography

Question 9

In a randomized controlled trial studying a new treatment, the primary endpoint (mortality) occurred in 14.4% of the treatment group and 16.7% of the control group. Which of the following represents the number of patients needed to treat to save one life, based on the primary endpoint?

Accepted Answer

1/(0.167 - 0.144)

Answer

1/(0.144 - 0.167)

Answer

1/(0.300 - 0.267)

Answer

1/(0.267 - 0.300)

Answer

1/(0.136 - 0.118)

Question 10

A 70-year-old man with a 2 year history of Alzheimer disease is brought in from his nursing facility with altered mental status and recurrent falls during the past few days. Current medications include donepezil and galantamine. His vital signs are as follows: temperature 36.0°C (96.8°F), blood pressure 90/60 mm Hg, heart rate 102/min, respiratory rate 22/min. Physical examination reveals several lacerations on his head and extremities. He is oriented only to the person. Urine and blood cultures are positive for E. coli. The patient is admitted and initial treatment with IV fluids, antibiotics, and subcutaneous prophylactic heparin. On the second day of hospitalization, diffuse bleeding from venipuncture sites and wounds is observed. His blood test results show thrombocytopenia, prolonged PT and PTT, and a positive D-dimer. Which of the following is the most appropriate next step in the management of this patient's condition?

Accepted Answer

Immediately cease heparin therapy and prescribe an alternative anticoagulant

Answer

Cryoprecipitate, FFP and low dose SC heparin

Answer

Start prednisone therapy

Answer

Splenectomy

Answer

Urgent plasma exchange

Pre-operative evaluation

Study Resources

Lessons

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Lessons

Cardiac risk assessment

Pulmonary risk evaluation

Medications management perioperatively

Preoperative laboratory testing

Preoperative imaging selection

Antibiotic prophylaxis principles

DVT risk assessment

Nutritional assessment and optimization

Frailty assessment

Functional capacity evaluation

Informed consent process

Preoperative anesthesia evaluation

Preoperative patient education

Practice Questions

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