Dear members of the board of directors,

 At the University Medical Centre Utrecht (The Netherlands), we are
 currently initiating a study that aims to evaluate the additional value of
 routine preoperative testing in patients scheduled for non-cardiac
 surgery. Prior to this study we would like to document the current
 practice of preanesthesia evaluation throughout Europe.

 Preanesthesia evaluation of elective surgical patients is well-recognized
 as being an important factor in minimizing perioperative morbidity and
 mortality and has become a basic element of anesthesia care in a lot of
 countries. However, we presume that the implementation of preoperative
 evaluation varies between countries and hospitals. In order to understand
 the current practice of preoperative testing in Europe, we designed a
 short web-based survey aimed at anesthesiologists throughout Europe. Our
 primary aim is to document the spectrum of current clinical practice in
 different European countries, focusing on organizational aspects and
 contents of preoperative evaluation of elective surgical patients.

 To be able to create a complete overview, we would like to obtain
 information on the practice of preanesthesia evaluation in your country.
 Therefore we would like to ask you to assist us in distributing our survey
 to anesthesiologists registered to your society, preferably by email. The
 survey can be found at www.ecgtrial.nl/survey.

 We would appreciate it if you could
 confirm your participation as soon as possible (before May 30th , 2009).

 If you have any further questions, please contact us at info@ecgtrial.nl
 More information about the study can be found  at www.ecgtrial.nl.


 Thanking you in advance for your cooperation,


 Yours sincerely,
 Fiona E. van Gelder

 Jurgen C. de Graaff, MD, PhD

 Wilton A. van Klei, MD, PhD

 Prof. J.T.A. Knape, MD, Professor of Anaesthesiology