Postoperative Pulmonary Complications in the ENIGMA II Trial

pubs.asahq.org March 7, 2023

Respiratory complications remain among the most common and serious adverse outcomes of major surgery.

In the Australian and New Zealand Audit of Surgical Mortality, postoperative pneumonia accounted for 44% of infective complications of surgery.

In the U.S. National Surgical Quality Improvement Program analysis of outcomes in 106,000 surgical patients, postoperative pneumonia after colectomy was associated with a tripling of mortality at 1 yr, independent of preoperative patient risk, and was associated with the highest cost of all types of complications studied.

However, reliable large-trial evidence of effective and practical interventions to reduce the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications in major surgery is still lacking.