title: Intensive pulmonary care after liver surgery: a retrospective survey from a single center.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prevention from postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) has been an important topic. The aims of this study were to determine the risk factors for PPC after liver surgery and to analyze the efficacy of postoperative pulmonary care on PPC prevention.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed variables of 81 patients who underwent hepatectomy and 4 transplantations between January 2007 and March 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Nineteen patients suffered PPCs (22.4%). Bivariate analysis identified four risk factors: preoperative anemia (odds ratio [OR] = 5.69), the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score of 3 or 4 (OR = 5.36), blood transfusion (OR = 2.81), and prolonged operative time (OR = 1.01). Upon multivariate analysis, only prolonged operative time was an independent risk factor for PPC (OR = 1.01). Pulmonary function test (PFT) was performed for 22 of 41 patients with an ASA score ≥ 2 (53.7%); there was no significant relationship between abnormal PFTs (n = 13) and the development of PPCs (P = .12).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The elimination of risk factors may reduce the incidence of PPCs. Postoperative intensive pulmonary care should be given to all patients after liver surgery but particularly to patients with high ASA scores and those with abnormal PFTs irrespective of age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Karadeniz Technical University, School of Medicine, Farabi Hospital, Trabzon, Turkey. serdartopaloglu@yahoo.com
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Topaloglu
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Inci
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Calik
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Aras
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oztuna
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ak
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bulbul
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Arslan
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Arslan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000601:surgery*; D008168:Lung / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies