Background and Goal of Study: Postoperative pneumonia is a frequent and severe complication after thoracotomy for pulmonary resection. Several studies have shown contradictory results with regard to a reduction of inflammation and respiratory complications depending on the hypnotic administered. The goal of this study was to compare the incidence of postoperative pneumonia after thoracic surgery when
volatile or total intravenous anaesthesia was administered.
Materials and Methods: Medical records of 229 adult patients undergoing elective thoracotomy from January 2011 to May 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients were classified depending on the type of hypnotic: sevoflurane vs propofol. Postoperative pneumonia (POP) and need of mechanical ventilation, length of stay in surgical intensive care unit (LOS-SICU) and overall mortality were analysed.
Chi2  and Mann-Whitney tests were used to analyse dependent variables by type of hypnotic. Multivariate analysis was performed adjusting by potential confounders.
Results and Discussion: Patient characteristics were similar between both groups (Table). Incidence of POP was higher in sevoflurane group (29.5% vs 24.5%, OR 1.13[95% CI, 0.56-2.31]). Likewise, LOS-SICU (4.0 ±11.8 vs 5.1 ± 8.9 days, HR 0.85 [95% CI, 0.63-1.13]), mechanical ventilation (14,3% vs 5.3%, OR 2.47[95% CI, 0.83-7.34]), and overall mortality (10.2% vs 3.3%, OR 3.02[95% CI,0.84-10.85])
showed a higher risk when using sevoflurane. 

07 / Retrospective cohort study of postoperative pneumonia comparing volatile versus total intravenous anaesthesia in thoracic surgery