ASA-PS 1 | A normal healthy patient. |
Guidelines: | No organic, physiologic, biochemical or psychiatric disturbance. Any disorder is localized, without systemic effects. Smoking <5 cigarettes/day. |
Example: | Healthy non-smoker, admitted for varicose vein operation. |
ASA-PS 2 | A patient with mild systemic disease. |
Guidelines: | Present pathology might imply specific measures or anaesthesia related precautions. The disturbance(s) might be caused by the condition to be surgically treated or by another pathologic process. Smoking >5 cigarettes/day. |
Examples: | Mild organic heart disease. Uncomplicated diabetes mellitus (type 1 or 2). Benign hypertension without complications. Healthy patient with trismus. |
ASA-PS 3 | A patient with severe systemic disease. |
Examples: | Diabetes mellitus with organ complications. Disabling heart disease. Moderate to severe respiratory disease. Angina pectoris. Myocardial infarction >6 months ago. |
ASA-PS 4 | A patient with severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life. |
Guidelines: | The disease is not necessarily related to the condition to be surgically treated, neither is it necessarily improved by the surgical intervention per se. |
Examples: | Malignant hypertension. Myocardial infarction <6 months ago. Severe liver, kidney, respiratory, or endocrine dysfunction. Manifest cardiac failure. Unstable angina pectoris. Subarachnoid haemorrhage – patient awake or somnolent. |
ASA-PS 5 | A moribund patient who is not expected to survive without the operation. |
Examples: | Patient in circulatory shock because of ruptured aortic aneurysm. Deeply comatose patient with intracranial haemorrhage. |
ASA-PS 6 | A declared brain-dead patient whose organs are being removed for donor purposes. |