A patient with mild/localised infection would be considered which ASA grade?

• A. II or 2
• B. III or 3
• C. IV or 4
• D. V or 5

Answer: (A)

ASA grading gauges the patient’s overall systemic health and how it could affect anesthesia, focusing on systemic disease burden rather than the local surgical site. A mild localized infection typically does not produce systemic symptoms or organ dysfunction, so it doesn’t add significant systemic burden. In ASA terms, that falls into mild systemic disease, which is categorized as ASA II. If the infection were spreading or causing systemic signs (fever, sepsis, organ impairment), the grade would rise to higher levels. For reference, ASA I is a completely healthy patient, while ASA III and IV reflect more severe or life-threatening systemic disease.