Journal of cardiothoracic anesthesia
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J Cardiothorac Anesth · Feb 1990
Letter Case ReportsInadvertent thermal injury from surgical instruments.
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A controversy exists over whether or not preoperative exercise testing can predict postthoracotomy complications. This study was designed to evaluate the usefulness of a presurgical exercise protocol in patients with lung disease, but no evidence of cardiac disease. Seventy patients underwent baseline pulmonary function testing and split function perfusion studies, when indicated, to calculate predicted postoperative pulmonary function. ⋯ The percentages of predicted VE max and predicted maximum heart rate were related to the occurrence of total complications, but not specifically to cardiopulmonary complications. The results emphasize the difficulty in attempting to exercise thoracotomy candidates with chronic lung disease to maximal performance. Excluding patients from further surgical consideration because of exercise limitation is not feasible based on these data.