Objective: To analyze the spirometry findings in patients undergoing bone marrow transplant, determining the importance of such findings
in predicting postoperative pulmonary complications and looking for correlations with postoperative outcomes. Methods: The spirometry
findings in 120 male and female patients, all above the age of 12, were evaluated retrospectively and compared in terms of the following
parameters: the type of bone marrow transplant; the underlying disease; cytomegalovirus serology; source of the transplanted cells; smoking;
pulmonary infection; history of lung disease; duration of the hematological disease; chemotherapy employed; conditioning regimen; acute
or chronic rejection of the transplant; and post-operative mortality. Results: In the pre-operative spirometry, 16 patients (13.3%) presented
alterations: 6 (5%) presented pure obstruction; 7 (5.8%) presented pure restriction; and 3 (2.5%) presented obstruction accompanied by
a reduction in vital capacity. In the post-operative spirometry, 29 patients (24.2%) presented alterations. The chance of presenting post-
operative spirometry alterations was greater in patients presenting acute transplant rejection (p = 0.02), patients older than 30 (p = 0.02),
female patients (p = 0.02) and patients receiving stem cells (p = 0.01). Having a history of lung disease was found to be associated with
greater mortality, as was suffering from chronic transplant rejection. No relationship was found between pre-operative spirometry alterations
and post-operative mortality. Conclusion: In bone marrow transplant patients, the alterations found through pre-operative spirometry were
not predictive of post-operative pulmonary complications or mortality. Nor were such alterations determinant of whether or not a given
patient was a good candidate for bone marrow transplant. Simple spirometry seems to be of little practical importance in the evaluation of
such patients.
Keywords: Spirometry; Bone marrow transplantation/adverse effects; Bone marrow transplantation/mortality