Preoperative Pulmonary Evaluation

Abstract

Postoperative pulmonary complications are an important part of the risk of surgery and prolong the hospital stay by an average of one to two weeks.1 Much of the literature on the assessment of perioperative risk has focused on identifying the now well-defined cardiac risk factors. However, clinically significant postoperative pulmonary complications are as common as postoperative cardiac complications. According to one review, pulmonary complications were at least as common as or more common than cardiac complications in 17 of 25 studies of postoperative complications.2 This article reviews patient- and procedure-related risk factors, clinical evaluation, pulmonary-function testing, and risk-reduction strategies. The . . .