INFLUENCE OF ATELECTASIS ON PULMONARY-FUNCTION AFTER CORONARY-ARTERY BYPASS-GRAFTING

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of atelectasi s on pulmonary function 6 days following coronary artery bypass grafti ng (CABG). After 6 days, 30 patients had normal chest radiographs, 38 had atelectasis, and 57 had pleural changes. In 11 patients, atelectas is only was observed in the radiograph, and in 27 it was in combinatio n with pleural changes. The decrease in FVC and FEV, in the patients w ith atelectasis was 33.4 and 33.5 percent in the SVG group and 34.8 an d 34.3 percent in the IMA group, while in those patients with a normal radiograph, the decrements were 26.3 and 26.9 percent in SVG group an d 26.1 and 26.9 percent in IMA group, respectively. Thus, patients wit h atelectasis on the 6th postoperative day have a larger decrement in pulmonary function post CABG than the patients with normal chest radio graph and this reduction reflects a higher degree of thoracic trauma.