Physical status classification

physical status classification

 A classifying of physical condition by the Am Soc of Anesthesiologists that stratifies Pts undergoing surgery into categories of relative risk of suffering complications during surgery or in the immediate post-operative period

Physical status classification

Class 1 No organic, physiologic, biochemical, or psychiatric disturbance; the pathologic process for which the operation is to be performed is localized, and does not entail a systemic disturbance, eg inguinal hernia repair in a robust ♂

Class 2 Mild to moderate disturbance caused either by the condition being treated surgically, or by a physiopathologic derangement, eg mild cardiac disease, mild DM, chronic bronchitis, essential hypertension

Class 3 Severe systemic disease or derangement of any cause, which may defy classification, eg severe cardiac disease, angina or status post-MI, severe diabetes with vascular complications, moderate to severe pulmonary compromise

Class 4 Severe systemic disease that is already life-threatening, which may not be corrected by surgery, eg organic heart disease with signs of severe cardiac insufficiency, advanced pulmonary, hepatic, renal or endocrine insufficiency

Class 5 A moribund patient with little chance of survival who is submitted to an operation in desperation, eg ruptured aortic aneurysm, major cerebral trauma with rapidly ↑ intracranial pressure

Emergency operation E A designation for any of the above classes when the operation 'goes sour', eg an incarcerated hernia with strangulation would be a class 1E