Lung function and cardiac surgery
Dubois, P.; Dubois, G.; Delwiche, J.P.; Schoevaerdts, J.C.; Kremer, R.
Acta Cardiologica 46(4): 439-451
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0001-5385 PMID: 1957547 Document Number: 376645
In a series of 145 patients submitted to cardiac surgery, lung function data were correlated with the kind of heart disease, mitral or oartic or coronary stenosis; the post-operative evolution was evaluated. Patients with valvular diseases (VD) have a significant lower transfer capacity (TL) than coronary patients; mitral VD show a lower forced vital capacity (FVC) than aortic VD. All the patients present an important restrictive pattern in the early post-operative period. The long-term follow-up (greater than 6 months) objectivates the highly significant decrease of FVC and FEV1 in all categories of patients, while the total lung capacity remains low only in aortic VD. The transfer coefficient (TL/VA) improves significantly after mitral valve replacement, but it does not change in the other cases.