Methods: Twenty-five patients (19 males, 6 females; mean age 55.5±13.4 years; range 17 to 77 years) who underwent elective open heart surgery between August 2005 and March 2006 in the Cardiovascular Surgery Clinic of our hospital were prospectively evaluated. Pulmonary function tests (PFT) and arterial blood gas (ABG) analyses were performed before the operation and in the 3rd month and 3rd year after the operation.

Results: Sixty four percent of 25 patients had coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, 20% of them had valve replacement surgery (VRS), while 16% of them had both CABG and VRS. The stage of heart failure before the surgery, was class III in 68% of patients, class II in 24%, and class IV in 8% according to the New York Heart Association (NYHA) heart failure classification. When compared to preoperative values, the difference in the postoperative 3^rd month a nd 3^rd year values of the PFT parameters VC, FEV₁, FVC, FEF₂₅, FEF₅₀, FEF₇₅ and MMEF was statistically significant (p=0.0001), whereas the difference was not significant in terms of FEV1/FVC ratio and PEF (p>0.05). There was no difference between the preoperative and postoperative ABG values (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The most important result of this study is that the PFT parameters after three years were significantly lower than the preoperative values. This result is remarkable since it shows that the functional changes that develop after the operation persist at the end of 3^rd year.