Non-traditional pulmonary function tests in risk stratification of anatomic lung resection: a retrospective review

Guidelines advocate pulmonary function testing (PFT) in preoperative evaluation before lung resection. Although forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) and diffusing capacity of the lungs for carbon monoxide (DLCO) are recommended, they are often poor predictors of complications.

Determine if PFT testing results other than FEV1 and DLCO are associated with post-operative complications. We hypothesized that other PFT test results may improve the prediction of post-operative complications.

Retrospective cohort study of a single institution.

We analyzed patients who underwent anatomic lung resections from 1/2007 to 1/2017. Percent predicted post-operative (ppo) PFT values were calculated for each test result. Outcome of interest was any post-operative complication. Wilcoxon rank-sum and multivariable regression were used to determine the relationship of PFT results to post-operative complications.

We analyzed 922 patients who underwent anatomic lung resections. Complications occurred in 240 (26.0%) patients, and mortality occurred in 12 (1.3%) patients. In univariate analysis, predicted and percent predicted post-operative (ppo) forced vital capacity (FVC), FEV1, FEF2575, DLCO, DLCO/VA, and VC values were predictors of post-operative complications. Multivariable logistic regression found no independent relationship of test results to post-operative complications, likely reflecting the collinearity of PFT results.

Our findings suggest that non-traditional PFTs, such as FVC, may enhance risk stratification for post-operative complications following anatomic lung resection. Notably, traditional parameters like FEV1 and DLCO were not independently predictive, highlighting the need to reconsider their role in isolation. These findings highlight the need to reconsider how PFT are used in surgical risk stratification given high levels of collinearity.