M. H. Chowdhury1,2, R. G. Vaghjiani2, P. S. Adusumilli2 1Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School Of Medicine,Huntington, WV, USA 2Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center,Thoracic Service, Department Of Surgery,New York, NY, USA
Introduction: Supplemental nasal oxygen is often administered to patients with asymptomatic desaturations based on pulse oximetry measurements. To date, there are no established parameters which guide the use of oxygen in the post-operative patient. As a first step, we investigated a) the incidence of oxygen supplementation in post-operative patients, b) the patterns of supplementation, c) the rate of home-use oxygen prescribed at discharge, and d) the associated post-operative outcomes of these patients.
Methods: A single institution, retrospective chart review was conducted on all consecutive patients who underwent lung resection from January to December 2016. Clinical outcomes including length of stay, complications, and readmission rates were collected from the prospectively maintained MSK thoracic surgery database and the electronic medical record.
Results: In total 574 patients underwent lung resection, 51% were male and had a mean age of 68.1 years. Of the 49 patients (Table) who were discharged with home-use oxygen, 34 (70%) had received more than 24hrs of continuous oxygen supplementation during their post-operative inpatient admission.
Conclusion: Nearly 1 in 10 patients are discharged with oxygen after lung resection. The use of supplemental oxygen is not without cost, and the specific burden on patients may be significant. This study provides an initial insight into the utilization of supplemental oxygen following lung resection and may serve as the basis for further studies investigating the need for oxygen in patients with asymptomatic desaturation.
