POSTOPERATIVE PULMONARY HYPOVENTILATION

Abstract

The consideration of postoperative pulmonary conditions is of necessity an important one. The fulminant course or the protracted convalescence that follows after such complications forces the question into a major position. This problem has been approached by many writers (Shultz,¹Cutler,²Cleveland,³etc.) after they have gone over large numbers of hospital records and studied the cases listed under pulmonary complications. Carefully planned clinical studies directed toward this condition have been carried out by Whipple⁴and Elwyn.⁵Results of these various investigations have helped to clarify the problem in regard to many of the contributing factors in the production of postoperative pulmonary complications. The influence of preexisting pathologic changes, the seasonal variation and the relation of epidemics of infections of the upper respiratory tract to pulmonary complications have been commented on by Ravdin and Kern.⁶For a long time "ether pneumonia" and the effect