LAUSR

As health care systems undergo a transition from reactive to proactive medicine and begin to value the importance of patientdriven outcome measures, the role of anesthesiologists as perioperative physicians has great opportunity for growth. The perioperative management of anemia is one such area where anesthesiologists can lead, in partnerships with hematologists and surgeons, to improve the health and outcomes of surgical patients. This requires moving beyond intraoperative and immediate postoperative management of anemia to a proactive role in the preoperative assessment and management of this common comorbidity. This article discusses the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and outcomes associated with perioperative anemia and management throughout the perioperative care arc with a focus on the preoperative period. We present the latest evidence and a practical approach to implementing that evidence in the perioperative period.