São Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina
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Clinical Trial
Prospective assessment of the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications in patients submitted to upper abdominal surgery.
To investigate associations between preoperative variables and postoperative pulmonary complications (PPC) in elective upper abdominal surgery. ⋯ There were three major clinical risk factors for pulmonary complications following upper abdominal surgery: chronic pulmonary disease, comorbidity, and surgery lasting more than 210 minutes. Those patients with three risk factors were three times more likely to develop a PPC compared to patients without any of these risk factors (p <0.001). PFT is indicated when there are uncertainties regarding the patient's pulmonary status.