Retrospective Review of Universal Preoperative Pregnancy Testing: Results and Perspectives

Unrecognized pregnancy in patients presenting for elective surgery is of particular concern due to the potential for significant complications. Accurate and inexpensive urine pregnancy tests are widely available in the developed world. As a result, universal preoperative pregnancy screening is commonly implemented. However, the utility of such routine testing is controversial. We retrospectively studied 8245 immediate presurgery pregnancy tests at Mayo Clinic Hospital, Phoenix, AZ, and found 11 positive tests of which 6 were false positives. We constructed a census-based approximation for unrecognized pregnancies, which shows significantly low pretest probability in this patient population. Taken together, the utility of immediate universal presurgical pregnancy testing is questionable. Accepted for publication October 30, 2017. Funding: None. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Supplemental digital content is available for this article. Direct URL citations appear in the printed text and are provided in the HTML and PDF versions of this article on the journal's website (http://ift.tt/KegmMq). Reprints will not be available from the authors. from the authors., Address correspondence to Karl A. Poterack, MD, Mayo Clinic Hospital, 5777 E Mayo Blvd, Phoenix, AZ 85054. Address e-mail to poterack.karl@mayo.edu. © 2017 International Anesthesia Research Society

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