Cardiopulmonary Testing Before Lung Resection: What Are Thoracic Surgeons Doing?

Compliance with American College of Chest Physicians guidelines for physiologic evaluation of lung resection patients was 50% or better for only half the physicians. The frequency of individualizing risk thresholds based on surgical approach increased according to the number of years in practice. Cardiothoracic surgeons more frequently referred all patients for cardiovascular risk assessment by a cardiologist than did thoracic surgeons (17.6% vs 2.4%).