ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Two hundred seventy-eight patients undergoing thoracic surgery were retrospectively analyzed to determine whether which variable can predict the identification of patients at risk of arterial hypoxemia developing during one-lung ventilation (OLV). METHODS: According to the value of SpO2, the patients were divided two groups. Group L (n = 62) had SpO2 values of less than 95%, whereas group H (n = 216) those of more than 95%. Preoperative and intraoperative data, including past medical history, current therapy, and usual preoperative and intraoperative tests, were collected and used as predictable variables for arterial hypoxemia during OLV by binary logistic regression (forward conditional method) subsequent to independent t-test and Chi-square test, as appropriate. RESULTS: Preoperative (past medical history with pulmonary resection of a lobectomy in dependent lung, hypertension, arrhythmias, and predicted diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide < or = 70%) and intraoperative (arterial oxygen tension/inspiratory oxygen fraction during two-lung ventilation <528 mmHg, right thoracotomy) variables were considered as predictable factors that identified patients at risk of arterial hypoxemia during OLV. CONCLUSION: Caution to the increased risk of arterial hypoxemia during OLV is needed in patients that have aforementioned preoperative and intraoperative variables.