Supraventricular cardiac arrhythmias are
the most common rhythm disturbances in patients fol-lowing thoracic surgery. The purpose of our study was to
determine which of the clinical parameters are the most
valuable in predicting postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF)
after lung surgery.

Methods: Retrospective analysis was carried out on
987 patients after noncardiac thoracic surgery to define the
prevalence, associated risk factors, and clinical course of post-operative arrhythmias. There were 822 men and 165 women,
age 34 to 78 years (mean age: 61 ± 8 years). The patients
were divided into two groups depending on the occurrence
or absence of supraventricular arrhythmia. Group I consisted
of 876 patients who were free from rhythm disturbances. The
remaining 111 patients exhibited episodes of supraventricular
arrhythmia (29 supraventricular tachycardia; 82 AF). These
111 patients were placed in Group II Preoperative, opera-tive, and postoperative data were reviewed. Statistical analysis
was performed. Results:A statistically significant difference was found
between the two groups in age, previous history of heart dis-ease, and lung resection, especially pneumonectomy. Conclu-sion: Age, history of prior heart disease, lung resection, and
the extent of pulmonary resection are the main risk factors for
postoperative supraventricular arrhythmia in patients under-going major thoracic operations