Exercise testing in evaluation of patients for lung resection.

We studied, in a prospective fashion, whether exercise testing selected candidates for lung resection and predicted postoperative morbidity and mortality better than "standard" lung function tests. We confirmed that a low preoperative FEV1 and VC had prognostic significance for the development of postoperative complications. Poor exercise performance did not. Likewise, analysis of exercise performance did not discriminate in patients rejected for surgery from those in whom resection was successfully completed.