Prediction of functional reserves after lung resection: comparison between quantitative computed tomography, scintigraphy, and anatomy.

Background And Objectives: We prospectively compared five techniques to estimate predicted postoperative function (ppo F) after lung resection: recently proposed quantitative CT scans (CT), perfusion scans (Q), and three anatomical formulae based on the number of segments (S), functional segments (FS), and subsegments (SS) to be removed.

Methods: Four parameters were assessed: FEV(1), FVC, DL(CO) and VO(2max), measured preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively in 44 patients undergoing pulmonary resection, comparing their ppo value to the postoperatively measured value.

Results: The correlations (r) obtained with the five methods were for CT: FEV(1) = 0.