When the improvement ratings for these parameters were compared, values were slightly lower in the Scope group but ther were no significant differences between the tow groups (fig. 2).
Coughing ability was classified into three grades (Table 2). On day 3 post-surgery,coughing ability before CPT was evaluated as level 3 in six patients in the Scope group and in 11 patients in the Open group. In these 17 patients, FEV1 per kg of body weight before CPT was 10 ml (desired FEV1 proposed by Pontoppidan et al.6) or higher. In the remaining patients with a coughing in ability of level 2 or lower, changes in coughing ability were investigated. Table 3 shows that coughing ability improved to level 3 in six of seven patients with level 2 coughing ability in Scope group, and in all 2 patients with level 2 coughing ability in the Open grove. Improvement in coughing ability did not depend on whether values before CPT reached the desied FEV1 (10ml/kg).
On day 14 post-surgery there were no significant differences in vital capacity or FEV1 between the two groups, although peak expiration flow was significantly higher in the Scope (fig.3)