[Problems of postoperative respiratory insufficiency (author's transl)].

Postoperatively patients are particularly endangered by the development of respiratory failure. All parts of the gas-exchange between the atmospharic air and the metabolizing cell are to be considered as a unit. The increase of dead-volume-respiration and intrapulmonary shunting is of great importance for the development of arterial hypoxaemia. Early diagnosis of impaired gas-exchange and an adequate treatment are emphasized. CPAP and intermittent mandatory ventilation are therapeutic methods, well approved in clinical practice.