Why the study?
Do certain preoperative tests identify patients at greater risk during thoracic surgery?
Do certain preoperative tests identify patients at greater risk during thoracic surgery?
Preoperative tests may help identify patients at increased risk for thoracic surgery, particularly older patients or those with diminished cardiopulmonary reserve.
May inform selective preoperative testing in high-risk thoracic patients; hypothesis-generating and requires prospective validation before practice change.
In the past two decades great strides have been made in perfecting the techniques of thoracic surgery. In relatively young patients with normal cardiopulmonary function, the risk of thoracotomy has become negligible. However, in olcier patients and in patients with diminished cardiopulmonary reserve, surgery is still associated with a significant risk, especially when extensive pulmonary resections are performed. This report assesses the ability of certain preoperative tests to identify patients for whom thoracic surgery carries a greater than usual risk.
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Charles Mittman (1963) studied this question.
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