Stair-climbing test: beyond the height

Patient selection has contributed significantly to improve the incidence of postoperative complications after anatomical lung resection.

Stair-climbing test is one of the low technology alternatives available, sometimes underused, to improve this selection. In the current issue, Boujibar and colleagues1 present the first systematic review and meta-analysis assessing stair-climbing test as a tool to predict postoperative complications after lung resection and to determine which patients require further high-technology cardiopulmonary evaluation.

Boujibar and colleagues describe the first systematic review and meta-analysis, which addresses the role of the stair-climbing test in predicting the incidence of postoperative complications after major lung resection.1

The authors conclude that achieved height during the stair-climbing test is a useful screening tool to decide whether a patient, due for thoracic surgery, needs further high-technology cardiopulmonary evaluation or can proceed directly to the operation. Despite the great heterogeneity of the six studies included in the …

CITA DEL ARTÍCULO  Thorax. 2020 Jul 10;thoraxjnl-2020-214966.  doi: 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2020-214966