Recovery of Pulmonary Function After Lung Resection as Compared to Release Surgery: A Retrospective Study

Abstract

Aim: To study the demographic, etiology and clinical characteristics of patients undergoing thoracotomy and to assess the changes in pulmonary functions after surgery.Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted in 50 patients who had undergone decortications or lung resection surgeries for benign lung diseases over a period of 2 years and 8 months between March 2017 to Nov 2019. Baseline clinical and demographic data were collected. All patients (aged 18 years & above) admitted or referred to CTVS department and who underwent decortications and lung resectional surgery done for benign lung diseases were included in this study. All demographic details, symptoms, associated co morbidities, pre and post operative PFT (FVC and FEV1), and complications after surgery were reviewed. Percentage change in PFT a 3 and 6 months after surgery were assessed. Repeated measure ANOVA were used for statistical analysis.Results: In this study 50 thoracotomies were performed. The mean age of patient was 38.6 yrs (range 16-62 yr). There were 35 male & 15 female (M:F =2.3:1). Cough was the most common symptom (60%). Etiology was infectious in 40 cases (80%) and non infectious in 10 (20%). Decortications was done in 25 patients while lung resection surgeries were done in 25 patients. In decortication group, change in FEV1/FVC was not significant. FVC was raised from 53.8 % to 81.6 % (of predicted value) and FEV1 from 60.9 % to 89.5 % (of predicted value) after 6 month. Improvement in these spirometric values after 6 months was quantified statistically significant. In lung resection group, functional loss in FVC and FEV1 after 6 month was about 14.33% and 15.32 % respectively. Conclusion After lung resection, FVC & FEV1 decreases significantly from pre operative value after surgery till 3 months after surgery and increases again from 3 to 6 months while after decortication, FVC & FEV1 were significantly raised in comparison to pre-op values after 6 months.