Preoperative pulmonary evaluation of surgical patients using the vitalograph

A prospective study of 100 patients was undertaken in order to assess whether or not, in apparently normal clinical subjects undergoing surgery, postoperative pulmonary complications could be predicted by the use of simple preoperative pulmonary function tests obtained by the use of the vitalograph. We have found, using a multiple statistical regression technique, that the addition of the vitalograph significantly increases the ability to predict postoperative pulmonary complications.