• Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Feb 2005

    Predictors of prolonged air leak following pulmonary lobectomy.

    • Alan J Stolz, Jan Schützner, Robert Lischke, Jan Simonek, and Pavel Pafko.
    • 3rd Deptartment of Surgery, Charles University, University Hospital Motol, Kuvalu 84, Prague 15000, Czech Republic. stolz@seznam.cz
    • Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2005 Feb 1; 27 (2): 334-6.

    ObjectiveTo predict risk factors of a prolonged air leak following pulmonary lobectomy.MethodsFrom January 2003 to March 2004, 134 patients (95 male, mean age 66+/-7.7 years) underwent pulmonary lobectomy for lung tumor. Prolonged air leak (PAL) was defined as an air leak lasting 7 days or more of postoperative chest tube drainage. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was defined as an FEV1 of <70% predicted and an FEV1/FVC ratio <70% based on the results of a preoperative pulmonary function test.ResultsPAL occurred in 13 (9.7%) patients and it lasted 10.4+/-3.2 days. Eleven out of 13 patients with PAL were identified with this co-morbidity only. There was not reoperation for PAL. Differences in age, gender, exposure to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, body mass index (BMI) and type of lobectomy were not statistically significant. COPD remained the only variable predicted for PAL (P<0.05).ConclusionsProlonged air leak is quite a common pulmonary complication after pulmonary lobectomy and can be treated conservatively. This complication significantly prolongs the length of hospitalization (P<0.01). We also conclude that COPD increases the risk of an air leak persisting for longer than 7 days.

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