Annals of internal medicine
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To critically assess original studies evaluating the role of preoperative pulmonary function testing in predicting postoperative outcomes. ⋯ Preoperative pulmonary function testing helps clinicians to make decisions on management of lung resection candidates. Although many studies of patients before abdominal surgery have focused on the utility of preoperative pulmonary function testing, methodologic difficulties undermine the validity of their conclusions. The impact of testing on care of other preoperative patients is even less clear because of poor study design and insufficient data. Therefore, further investigation is necessary before a consensus can be reached on the role of preoperative pulmonary function testing in evaluating patients before all surgical procedures except lung resection.