[A review of the findings on chest examinations and at autopsy in surgical patients under intensive care (author's transl)].

The present paper deals with the findings on examination of the chest and at autopsy in 100 selected surgical patients under intensive care; of these 17% were post-traumatic, 55% had post-operative lung complications and in 28% there had been no trauma or previous operations. The accuracy of the radiological diagnosis was checked against the autopsy findings. Pneumonia and pulmonary oedema were the most common lung complications in all three groups, with an incidence of 59 to 82%, and were diagnosed with an accuracy of 92 to 95%. Other conditions which were looked for were pulmonary congestion, emboli and lung infarcts, pleural effusions, atelectasis, pulmonary haemorrhage or contusion and pneumothorax. The most common mis-diagnosis was in the demonstration of emboli and infarcts, where accuracy was only 64%. The difficulties in differential diagnosis of the radiological appearances due to these pulmonary complications are discussed.