Thorax 1999;54:1140
( December )
Letters to the editor
 | Surgery and respiratory muscles |
| Reply to letter |
Surgery and respiratory muscles
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
In their review of the effects of surgery on the
respiratory muscles Siafakas and co-workers have cited my work
incorrectly on two occasions.1 We reported a study of
respiratory mechanics after abdominal surgery with measurements of the
pressure-volume characteristics of the rib cage and
abdomen.2 This report has been cited to support statements
on the effects of surgery on gas exchange efficiency of the lung and of
general anaesthesia on the thorax. On neither occasion is this citation
appropriate. We found evidence that the abdominal muscles were active
in patients after abdominal surgery, that this activity was variable,
and that it could possibly explain the patterns of movement otherwise considered to represent "diaphragmatic dysfunction". These
observations, along with a short review of the published work on the
subject, formed an editorial3 in which I argued that the
concept of diaphragmatic dysfunction was outmoded. This work has been
cited in support . . . [Full text of this article]
