Certain factors observed on thoracic CT preoperatively are predictive of the need for postoperative mechanical ventilation, according to a study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology.
Those factors include bronchial wall thickening, pericardial effusion, shorter lung height, and greater anteroposterior chest diameter.
"We took a retrospective look at patients who had major abdominal or pelvic surgery and then also had thoracic CT within the last year before the surgery to investigate any CT imaging predictors to identify the patients who are likely to get postoperative mechanical ventilation," Arzu Canan, MD, the study's lead author and assistant professor, Cardiothoracic Imaging Division, Department of Radiology, University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, in an interview with Medscape Medical News.
Two radiologists reviewed preoperative thoracic CT examinations performed between January 2014 and December 2018 for a total of 165 patients. Case patients were those who required mechanical ventilation after surgery. They were matched in a 3:1 ratio with control patients on the basis of age, sex, body mass index, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), smoking status, and type of surgery.
Figure 1. Sagittal chest CT image of a 62-year-old woman who underwent hysterectomy for uterine cancer demonstrates measurement of right lung height at the hilar level from apex to the diaphragmatic dome.
