Purpose: Expired gas analysis has enabled the successful prediction of postoperative complications in patients undergoing thoracic esophagectomy. We conducted this study to determine whether preoperative expired gas analysis during exercise testing can help identify patients at high risk of postoperative complications after pneumonectomy.
Methods: We measured the vital capacity, percent vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1.0 s, percent forced expiratory volume in 1.0 s, maximum oxygen uptake per minute, anaerobic threshold, arterial partial pressure of oxygen, and arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide in 27 patients scheduled to undergo pneumonectomy. Group A consisted of 18 patients without postoperative cardiopulmonary complications and group B consisted of 9 patients with postoperative cardiopulmonary complications. We compared preoperative cardiopulmonary data between these two groups.
Results: Postoperative cardiopulmonary complications developed in 9 of the 27 patients (33.3%), 3 (11%) of whom died. The maximum oxygen uptake and the anaerobic threshold were significantly higher in group A than in group B (P < 0.05), whereas spirometric pulmonary function testing and arterial blood gas analysis showed no intergroup differences.
Conclusion: Expired gas analysis during exercise testing can help identify patients at high risk of postoperative cardiopulmonary complications after pneumonectomy.