Elderly Hip Fracture with Pulmonary Hypertension and Advance Directive
Reading Time
2:00
Clinical Stem
2025.2
Your regular orthopaedic surgeon informs you they have added a trauma patient to their elective list tomorrow. The patient is an 82-year-old woman requiring a total hip replacement for a sub-capital neck of femur fracture from a mechanical fall.
The patient lives in a granny flat attached to her daughter's home. She tripped on her bedroom door stopper.
Her past medical history includes:
Chronic obstructive airway disease
- 50 pack years of smoking cigarettes, ceased 6 months ago
Atrial fibrillation diagnosed 2 years ago
- recent echocardiogram shows RVSP 65 mmHg
Medications
Formoterol 12 mcg every 6 hours, as required
Indacaterol/glycopyrronium 110/50 mcg once daily
Apixaban 2.5 mg bd
Digoxin 62.5 mcg once daily
Furosemide 20 mg once daily
Spironolactone 50 mg once daily
Escitalopram 10 mg once daily
Current observations
HR 112 bpm
BP 89/60 mmHg
SpO2 94% on room air
RR 20 breaths per min
Weight 60 kg
Height 155 cm
BMI 25 kg/m2
VAS pain score 8 out of 10 (after 2.5 mg oxycodone IR 30 min ago)
The patient and family wish to discuss her anaesthetic risks.
Sections covered in this viva
Section 1 – Pre-operative evaluation and consent clarification for an elderly patient with right-ventricular dysfunction and an advance health directive requiring urgent hip surgerySection 2 – Intra-operative management of tachyarrhythmia and hypotension in an elderly patient with right-ventricular dysfunctionSection 3 – Postoperative management of respiratory failure and ethical decision-making regarding non-invasive ventilation