Assessment of operative risk for pneumonectomy.

The preoperative evaluation of patients who are candidates for pneumonectomy is valuable in assessing an individual's relative risk of morbidity, permits the patient to make an informed decision regarding surgery with those risks in mind, and helps the treating physicians by alerting them to likely complications. The workup is accomplished with few and relatively inexpensive tests that reliably predict which patients are at greatest risk for pulmonary, cardiovascular, and other surgical complications and death. The guidelines for evaluation are only suggestions, however, and the assessment of individual patients must be tailored to their specific needs according to the judgment of the treating physician.