Analysis of Postoperative Complications

360 tuberculous patients subjected to 364 pulmonary resections between May, 1955 and September, 1960. All the patients with the exception of 26, who were discovered to have isolated nodular opacity in the lung by chest survey and presented negative sputum status, had been treated in a well-coordinated program consisting of bed rest and antituberculosis chemotherapy. The decision to operate on these patients was, in the majority of cases, reached at chest conferences. The duration of postoperative convalescence in hospital varies from four to six months, as determined by the progress of the individual case. The period of postoperative chemotherapy consists of a minimum of 16 months, and it could be extended to two years or more as the condition of the individual patient may require. The minimal follow-up for the patients alive in January, 1960 was four months, the maximum being four ‘ears and six months. The postoperative period consists of an arbitrary period of three months following operation. The three standard antituberculosis drugs employed here are streptomycin, isoniazid and paraaminosalicylic acid.