Postoperative respiratory complications in patients with Hodgkin's disease: relationship to the size of the mediastinal tumor.

Postoperative respiratory complications were investigated in patients with Hodgkin's disease, stages I-III, presenting with a mediastinal mass. By measuring the ratio between the widest diameter of the mediastinal mass and the width of the thorax at T5-6 (mediastinal thoracic ratio, MTR) in a PA chest X-ray, patients were divided into three groups: I: MTR less than 0.35 (41 patients); II: MTR 0.35-0.49 (33 patients); and III: MTR greater than 0.50 (23 patients). Five patients of group II and eight of group III received preoperative radiation therapy (RT) to the mediastinum due to severe clinical or radiological findings associated with the mediastinal mass. No patient of group I received preoperative RT. Without preoperative RT, group III had a significantly higher incidence of respiratory complications (7/15) compared to groups I (7/41) and II (2/28). Respiratory complications were not significantly different after preoperative RT in group III (1/8) compared to that observed in groups I plus II without preoperative RT (9/69).