Role of an Anesthesiologist in Smoking Patients Undergoing Endoscopic Procedures

Smoking is associated with a range of diseases, causing a high level of morbidity and mortality and is a risk factor for several perioperative complications [1]. The consequences of smoking on surgical outcomes are associated with the toxic effects of recent smoke inhalation and the cumulative chronic effects of tobacco exposure. Many smoking patients require some medical interventions and care by anesthesiologists. Consequently, smoking is of direct concerns to periprocedural management [1,2]. The preoperative clinic is an ideal setting to initiate interventions for smoking cessation. Importantly, preprocedural interventions for tobacco use are effective to decrease postprocedural complications and increase the likelihood of long-term abstinence. If intensive interventions are impractical, brief interventions should be implemented in preprocedural clinics as a routine practice [3]. Anesthesiologists should ask their patients about smoking, advice the smokers to quit, and connect them directly to counseling resources. However, most anesthesiologists ask their patients about smoking but frequently do not advise smokers to quit [4]