Relationship between preoperative pulmonary risk assessment and postoperative pulmonary complications in patients undergoing cranial surgery in the presence of chronic disease

Abstract

Postoperative complications are becoming more and more important than the risk given in preoperative pulmonary evaluation due to the increase in patients requiring surgical intervention. Patients undergoing craniotomy are routinely evaluated preoperatively, but the role of these evaluations in predicting outcomes has not been adequately studied. We aimed to investigate the effect of preoperative pulmonary risk assessment and the type of operation performed on postoperative complications and mortality concerning the presence of chronic disease in patients undergoing cranial surgery in the light of the literature. Preoperative pulmonary consultation data and postoperative pulmonary consultations, if any, of cranial surgery patients who were operated on in the neurosurgery clinic of a tertiary hospital were retrospectively analyzed. 85 (43.8%) of the surgical patients were male and 109 (56.2%) were female, and the average age of 194 people was 74 (35-90). 83 (42.7%) of the patients had at least one chronic disease. Considering the preoperative pulmonary risks, 72 (37.1%) patients were given medium risk. Statistically, the mortality rate was higher in those with ICU beds. Atelectasis in 10 (5.15%) patients, pneumonia in 7 (3.608%) patients, embolism in 3 (1.5%) patients, respiratory failure in 3 (1.5%) and bronchospasm in 2 (1%) patients, respectively. Postoperative pulmonary complications developed in 25 (12.9%) patients. Prediction of respiratory complications with effective preoperative pulmonary evaluation is important in terms of decreasing morbidity and mortality and decreasing the length of hospital stay. Since most of the complications are seen in patients given high risk in the preoperative period, close follow-up of high-risk patients in the postoperative period is important.