Arch Intern Med
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Review
Preoperative spirometry before abdominal operations. A critical appraisal of its predictive value.
Preoperative spirometry is commonly ordered before abdominal surgery, with the goal of predicting and preventing postoperative pulmonary complications. We assessed the evidence for this practice with a systematic literature search and critical appraisal of published studies. The search identified 135 clinical articles, of which 22 (16%) were actual investigations of the use and predictive value of preoperative spirometry. ⋯ The available evidence indicates that spirometry's predictive value is unproved. Unanswered questions involve (1) the yield of spirometry, in addition to history and physical examination, in patients with clinically apparent lung disease; (2) spirometry's yield in detecting surgically important occult disease; and (3) its utility, or beneficial effect on patient outcome. Spirometry's full potential for risk assessment in the individual patient has not yet been realized.
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Blood was obtained before and after ten healthy male nonsmokers sat for 20 minutes in open hospital corridors beside men who were already there smoking by their own initiative. Mean values before and after passive smoking were 0.87 and 0.78 for the platelet aggregate ratio, 2.8 and 3.7 per counting chamber for the endothelial cell count, 0 and 2.8 ng/mL for the plasma nicotine concentration, and 0.9% and 1.3% for the carboxyhemoglobin level. No variable changed significantly during control periods in which the subjects sat in a room where smoking was prohibited. Passive exposure to tobacco smoke affected the endothelial cell count and platelet aggregate ratio in a manner similar to that previously observed with active smoking.