[Lung function and operability. Importance of preoperative right heart catheterization in patients with bronchial...

Lung resection may be followed by pulmonary hypertension leading to cardio-respiratory insufficiency. Therefore, pulmonary arterial pressure should be known before operation. To test the presence of pulmonary hypertension, results of lung function studies and right heart catheterization were compared in 100 patients with bronchogenic carcinoma. Mean pulmonary arterial pressure could be correlated with arterial partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide as well as with total airway resistance and the Tiffeneau-test (FEV1/VC). A multiple regression analysis including 5 non hemodynamic variables, however, demonstrated a standard estimation error of mean pulmonary arterial pressure of 4.4 mmHg at rest and 8.0 mmHg during exercise thus proving that the multiple regression is of no clinical significance. Also by a discriminant analysis, patients could not be identified with clinically sufficient reliability as hemodynamically normal or pathological. Thus, right heart catheterization is an indispensable prerequisite to lung resection.