Preoperative respiratory muscle dysfunction is a predictor of prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation in cardiorespiratory complications after heart valve surgery.

Objective: To verify whether preoperative respiratory muscle strength and ventilometric parameters, among other clinically relevant factors, are associated with the need for prolonged invasive mechanical ventilation (PIMV) due to cardiorespiratory complications following heart valve surgery.

Methods: Demographics, preoperative ventilometric and manometric data, and the hospital course of 171 patients, who had undergone heart valve surgery at Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto, were prospectively collected and subjected to univariate analysis for identifying the risk factors for PIMV.

Results: The hospital mortality was 7%.

Pulmonary function and quality of life in patients with morbid obesity six months after bariatric surgery.

Purpose: To investigate the body weight, pulmonary function and quality of life of twenty patients with morbid obesity six months after the Fobi-Capella operation.

Methods: Patients were evaluated before and six months after surgery. The patients were mainly female (75%), the average age was 40.