ASA physical status classification system

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The ASA physical status classification system is a system for assessing the fitness of patients before surgery. In 1963, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) adopted the five-category physical status classification system; a sixth category was later added. These are: Healthy person. Mild systemic disease. Severe systemic disease. Severe systemic disease that is a constant threat to life. A moribund person who is not expected to survive without the operation. A declared brain-dead person whose organs are being removed for donor purposes. If the surgery is an emergency, the physical status classification is followed by "E" (for emergency), for example, "3E". Class 5 is usually an emergency and is therefore usually "5E". The class "6E" does not exist and is simply recorded as class "6", as all organ retrieval in brain-dead patients is done urgently. The original definition of emergency in 1940, when ASA classification was first designed, was "a surgical procedure which, in the surgeon's opinion, should be performed without delay," but is now defined as "when [a] delay in treatment would significantly increase the threat to the patient's life or body part."