Abstract
OBJECTIVES: The study's goal is to find out if there is a link between the results of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) done before surgery and the chance of getting pneumonia after surgery in people with stage I lung cancer who are having a video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis on data from 194 patients with lung cancer who underwent VATS lung resection between January 2020 and August 2023. We assessed the preoperative 6MWT findings and the likelihood of developing postoperative pneumonia using a logistic regression model. RESULTS: Pneumonia developed in 23 patients (11.9%) in the early postoperative period. Risk factors led to the exclusion of 12 patients leaving 11 patients in the study. Eight of the patients were male three were female and the average age was 51±6 years. Postoperative pneumonia was observed to be statistically significantly more likely to occur in those whose 6MWT outcomes were less than 300 meters (p <0.05). CONCLUSION: We found that patients who underwent VATS lung resection due to pulmonary malignancy and had a preoperative 6MWT result below 300 meters were at risk for developing postoperative pneumonia.