[Respiratory care for pulmonary resection in geriatric patients with bronchogenic carcinoma]

In patients aged over 70 years with bronchogenic carcinoma, respiratory failure following pulmonary resection is the most common cause of death. Before August 1982, 23 patients over 70 were treated surgically at the National Defense Medical College Hospital. Of these 23 patients, 4 died from postoperative respiratory failure, 2 of them dying within 30 postoperative days. Since August 1982, 35 pulmonary resections have been performed in patients over 70 who have been managed with pulmonary rehabilitation, resulting in no deaths from respiratory failure. Pulmonary rehabilitation has also provided a shorter duration of atelectasis and a reduced need for bronchoscopic aspiration. We therefore consider that pulmonary rehabilitation is the respiratory care of choice in elderly patients undergoing pulmonary resection.