title: Pulmonary function before and after abdominal surgery in the aged.
abstract: In patients 70 years or older, pulmonary function tests were performed before and after abdominal surgery to correlate the results with the development of postoperative pulmonary complications which developed in 48% of these patients, compared to 15% in the control group. To predict the development ot PPC, preoperative analysis of the flow-volume curve is useful and 4 (V50-V25)/forced vital capacity is a valuable parameter for the analysis of the flow-volume curve. Postoperatively, pulmonary function was reduced and there was a delay in the restoration of pulmonary function in cases with postoperative pulmonary complications. The administration of appropriate analgesics may be useful to improve postoperative ventilatory disturbances.
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D000368:Aged; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000503:physiopathology; D014797:Vital Capacity