title: Postoperative respiratory complications of video-assisted thoracic surgery for lung cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We analyzed the risk factors predisposing patients to develop postoperative respiratory complications (PRCs) in VATS lobectomy and segmentectomy for lung cancer, retrospectively.
  
  
  METHODS
  Both univariate and multivariate analyses of PRCs were performed in seventy-five patients who had undergone VATS lobectomy and segmentectomy for lung cancer from November 1994 to December 2000.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Univariate analysis of the development of PRCs revealed that the significant risk factors were age, ppo%VC, ppo%FEV, ppoFEV, poor pulmonary function, and duration of surgery. Multivariate logistic regression test in regard to the development of PRCs revealed that duration of surgery was the most significant risk factor. On the basis of the receiver operator characteristic analysis, duration of surgery more than 297 min had a sensitivity of 70% and a specificity of 66% for the development of PRCs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The duration of surgery should be less than five hours not to lose advantages of VATS lobectomy and segmentectomy. Therefore, if the duration of surgery is more than five hours for any reasons, conversion to limited thoracotomy or muscle-sparing methods is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Nippon Medical School Second Hospital, 1-396 Kosugi-cho, Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa 211-8533, Japan. shuji@nms.ac.jp
authors.forename: Shuji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Haraguchi
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koizumi
authors.forename: Nobuo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hatori
authors.forename: Masafumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hioki
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Hirohiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: Tomomi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirata
authors.forename: Kyoji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Iwao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Mikami
authors.forename: Hirotoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubokura
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015984:Causality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D012140:Respiratory Tract Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D013997:Time Factors