Supraventricular arrhythmias after pneumonectomy. Report of 100 cases and review of the literature

Supraventricular arrhythmias are frequently observed in pneumonectomy surgery. We retrospectively studied a series of 100 consecutive patients undergoing pneumonectomy for cancer between 1994 and 1996. We found 24 % of significant supraventricular arrhythmias, corresponding to atrial fibrillation in 75 % of cases, occurring in 80 % of cases until the third postoperative day. The only risk factor significantly associated with these arrhythmias was the patient's age. These arrhythmias are easily reduced, spontaneously in 25 % of cases, and usually by amiodarone, alone or associated with digitalis alkaloids. While the mortality of the overall group was 12 %, 8 % of patients with arrythmia died. These deaths concerned patients whose arrythmias occurred after the fourth postoperative day in a context of a pulmonary infection.