Lung Ultrasound in the Early Detection of Postoperative Pulmonary Complications After Esophagectomy

The perioperative management of esophageal cancer has evolved considerably in recent years. Over the last 30 years, postoperative mortality has been steadily decreasing. However, respiratory morbidity remains high (30-40%). This is due to the procedure itself requiring a thoracic approach and intraoperative unipulmonary ventilation. The postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) are multiple: bronchial congestion, atelectasis, pneumopathy, acute respiratory failure, liquid pleural effusion, pneumothorax. In general, prevention and early treatment are aimed at limiting the evolution towards acute respiratory failure requiring ventilatory assistance. Chest radiography is essential for the presumptive diagnosis of pneumopathy in particular, but the interpretation of the images may be difficult. Thoracic computed tomography (CT) is the gold standard because it is sensitive and can discriminate among differential diagnoses. This is difficult to perform: it requires intra-hospital transport of patient, who is often in acute respiratory failure, and the availability of an examination area. Lung ultrasound is used at the bedside for diagnosis of lung infection in intensive care unit. This has a sensitivity close to thoracic CT and has the advantage of being feasible at any time, does not require transport of the patient and is not irradiating. Lung ultrasound allows early detection of the need for ventilatory support in postoperative major abdominal surgery . In addition, the sensitivity of lung ultrasound is close to that of CT, allowing this examination to be relied upon. The main objective of the study is to determine the role of lung ultrasound (LUS) in the prediction of postoperative pulmonary complications within one hour after extubation. The secondary objectives are to determine the performance of lung and diaphragmatic ultrasound (DUS) on postoperative day 1 and to establish a predictive model integrating LUS, DUS, and clinical variables to improve early i