How patient with emphysema can recover from general anesthesia?

First, make: Sure your condition is optimized preop. Then have a conversation about anesthetic choices with your anesthesiologist. Consider non-narcotic post op pain solutions and maybe regional anesthesia intra-op if possible. If your condition is serious, you may also get extra monitoring post op.

Depends: Patients with emphysema should have their pulmonary function thoroughly evaluated. This includes a history and physical and pulmonary function tests with spirometry. Based on these tests symptoms can be optimized prior to surgery. These patients have higher risk of pneumonia after surgery, but if properly optimized and managed can do very well with normal recovery.

Under care: The patient with emphysema is sensitive to many of our anesthetic agents, that is they will depress their already damaged pulmonary function. This means that a patient with emphysema is going to spend more time in the post anesthesia care unit to make sure that they can breathe with minimal assistance. Having the patient spend the night after an operation is another way that they can be carefully.