Functional status has been shown to be reliable for prediction of perioperative and long-term cardiac events. In highly functional asymptomatic patients, management is rarely changed by preoperative stress testing. It is therefore appropriate to proceed with the planned surgery without it. Preoperative stress testing should be reserved for patients with significant clinical risk factors for cardiac complications such as history, symptom, or signs of ischemic heart disease, heart failure, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, or peripheral vascular disease. It may also be appropriate to perform preoperative cardiac testing on patients with a low functional status (unable to carry out anything more than minor physical activity) since inactivity in these patients may mask otherwise significant cardiac disease.