Early and Long-term Validation of an Algorithm Assessing Fitness for Surgery in Patients With Postoperative FEV1 and Diffusing Capacity of the Lung for Carbon Monoxide < 40%

Adherence to the proposed algorithm results in a reasonable preoperative mortality in patients with low preoperative lung function. Although perioperative mortality is significantly higher when predicted postoperative lung function is low, 2-year survival of patients is better than if such patients had not undergone surgery.