Postoperative pulmonary function in obese patients after upper abdominal surgery.

The pulmonary course after jejuno-ileal by-pass operation in six massively obese patients (mean weight 130.2 kg) was followed for the first 5 postoperative days by means of arterial blood gas analysis and measurements of forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expired volume in the first second (FEV1.0) and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). The patients were extubated in the operating room and were breathing spontaneously in the postoperative period. Pao2 and FVC reached their minimum values in the first 24 postoperative hours (respectively, 74% and 45% of their preoperative values), but were almost restored in 5 days. PEFR had at this time reached 77% of its preoperative value FEV1.0% (FEV1.0%in per cent of FVC) did not change from the pre- to the postoperative period, but remained about 70%.