Pulmonary diffusion-circulation interrelationships two to seven years after pneumonectomy.

Ventilatory function, pulmonary diffusion capacity and right heart catheterization were studied in eight patients 2-7 years after pneumonectomy. The operation had been carried out for bronchial carcinoma. Dependence of pulmonary diffusion capacity on pulmonary perfusion rather than on ventilatory changes was characteristic of the elderly patients in the late post-pneumonectomy state. When decreased pulmonary perfusion, produced by cardiac disease or increased pulmonary vascular resistance, severely affects the pulmonary diffusion capacity, a careful assessment of the cardiac state is very important in the pre-operative evaluation of operability. In the absence of coexisting diseases, the cardiopulmonary state of long-term survivors usually remains good.