Is a Surgical Clearance Exam Really Necessary?

From cosmetic procedures to life-saving operations, surgeries help millions across the globe, keeping us healthy and happy. But there’s more to surgery than the procedure itself.

Preoperative evaluations, also known as surgical clearance exams, assess a person's health before surgery. But are they always necessary?

Here’s what Dr. Temeka Johnson and the team at Quality Health Source in Mableton, Georgia, want you to know about surgical clearance exams.

What’s a surgical clearance exam?

A surgical clearance exam encompasses the exam and screenings performed before surgery to judge your fitness for the procedure and gather information important to your surgeon. This clearance exam has several components, including:

Medical history

At your surgical clearance exam, Dr. Johnson reviews your medical history, especially as it relates to your surgery.

She also checks any medications you’re currently taking (or used recently) to see if they might cause issues, such as excessive bleeding, during surgery. She might direct you to reduce or discontinue certain medications before your procedure.

Blood work

Dr. Johnson may order blood testing, depending on your surgery, which can include coagulation tests, blood chemistry, complete blood count, blood glucose, liver and cardiac enzyme exam, and arterial blood gas.

Imaging

Your surgeon may want a detailed look at the area they’re operating on, so you might need one or more screenings, like CT scans, MRI exams, ultrasound, X-rays, endoscopy, or PET scans.

Physical tests

Stress tests can help determine your cardiovascular health before vital surgery, as can pulmonary function testing and electrocardiograms.

When is a surgical clearance exam necessary?

The types and number of tests involved depend on your surgery. Most minimally invasive or other forms of minor surgery, where there’s less risk of infection, might need little preoperative testing. Some testing may be done post-surgery to assess the procedure’s effectiveness.

If there’s an inherent health risk, or surgery may compromise other aspects of your health, a clearance exam is crucial so precautions can be taken to lower your risk of complications. Pre-existing health problems can make even lower-risk surgeries more dangerous.

The goal of any operation is to perform the task safely with as little risk to the patient as possible, and a surgical clearance exam is a tool to assess the factors that may play a role during and after surgery. 

If you need a surgical clearance exam or have questions about the process, make an appointment by phone or online today with Dr. Johnson and her team at Quality Health Source.