Routine lung ultrasound to detect postoperative pulmonary complications following major abdominal surgery: a prospective observational feasibility study

The Ultrasound Journal

Table 3 Incidence rates of newly detected postoperative pulmonary complications with ‘on-demand’ chest X-ray after major abdominal surgery according to daily clinical practice

Day	Number of patients in which CXR is performed (on demand)	Patients with N ≥ 1 PPC [N (%)]	Pneumothorax	Pulmonary edema	Atelectasis	Pleural effusion
POD 0	36	13 (36%)	2	3	9	4
POD 1	19	13 (72%)	4	3	9	6
POD 2	13	7 (54%)	2	0	3	5
POD 3	9	3 (33%)	1	1	1	3

Patients can develop multiple PPCs. Total amount of PPCs can be higher than the number of patients
CXR chest X-ray, PPC postoperative pulmonary complication, POD postoperative day