[Assessment of surgical risk in pulmonectomy]

The authors suggest a modified Wassner's test which makes the preoperative physiological modeling of the expected postpulmonectomy conditions of gas exchange on the patient much easier because additional separate intubation of the bronchi is not necessary and the reaction of the upper respiratory tract to irritation is excluded. The gas exchange values recorded during the test before the operation are used for appraising the operative risk in pulmonectomy and prognosticating the development of acute respiratory insufficiency in the immediate postoperative period.