Peri-operative adjustment and treatment of diabetes mellitus

In all disciplines of operative medicine the number of patients who suffer from diabetes mellitus is increasing dramatically. The reason is that nowadays up to 10% of the population is suffering from this disease. These patients must be treated with respect to the diabetes and also subsequent related conditions to prevent peri-operative complications. A special problem is that many patients do not know that they are suffering from diabetes. Pre-operatively and during the peri-operative course the coordinated efforts of surgeons, anaesthesiologists and diabetes specialists are essential to reach an optimal result. In all hospitals obligatory algorithms must be established for the treatment of these patients. © Springer Medizin Verlag 2009.