Pulmonary function after cardiac and thoracic surgery.

Abstract

Perioperative care is undergoing significant change due to clinical advances and economic pressures. As more emphasis is placed on costcontainment and improved efficiency, current practices should be reviewed and critiqued to determine whether they are actually effective. Common problems, such as postoperative pulmonary complications, should be a focus of these efforts because the “bottom line” is to devise methods to reduce these complications and so decrease the costs of medical care. This requires a multifaceted approach that entails a better understanding of the causes of the complications, devising effective treatments and preventive strategies, and performing outcome studies to determine the success of currently used and new procedures. In this review, I examine the pulmonary changes after surgery involving the thoracic cavity and the consequences of modern pain management techniques. Perioperative Respiratory Function: A