Cardiac operations in patients with severe pulmonary impairment

Many reviews concerning pulmonary complications after cardiac surgical procedures in patients with serious pulmonary disease have been published. However, no strict pulmonary function guidelines were proposed to help the clinician identify the patients at greater risk. We considered whether a low pulmonary function became a risk factor of cardiac operations. We conducted a retrospective analysis of records of 32 patients with severely impaired preoperative pulmonary function who had undergone cardiac operations between July 1988 and March 1999. There was 1 hospital death. The over-all mortality rate was 3.1% (1 of 32). However, this death could not be directly attributed to postoperative pulmonary complications. Postoperative pulmonary complications were seen in 2 patients (6.3%) who required tracheostomy due to atelectasis and pneumonia. No late deaths due to pulmonary complications were observed during the follow-up period. The actual survival rate is 68% at 7 years. A low pulmonary function did not, by itself, become a risk factor of cardiac operations, although a pulmonary function test can be used to alert the clinician to possible postoperative complications, including the requirement of tracheostomy. Especially strict control of postoperative respiration is necessary in patients with forced expiratory volume (FEV) of 1.0 <= 800 ml and/or FEV1.0/BSA <= 600 ml/m2.