Patients undergoing surgery for neurological conditions such as removal of a brain tumor are at greater risk of developing postoperative pneumonia if periodontal disease is also present, according to a study in BMC Infectious Diseases (June 29, 2009, Vol. 9:104).
Almos Klekner, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Debrecen in Hungary and his colleagues conducted dental examinations on, and collected saliva samples from, 23 elderly patients awaiting brain tumor surgery. Of the 23 patients, 18 had no postoperative lung complications, while the other 5 contracted pneumonia within 48 hours of the operation.
The 5 patients who developed pneumonia all had periodontal disease, the researchers found.
"The number and severity of coexisting periodontal diseases were significantly greater in patients with postoperative pneumonia in comparison to the control group (p = 0.031 and p = 0.002, respectively)," they wrote. In fact, the relative risk of developing postoperative pneumonia in high periodontal score patients was 3.5 greater than in patients who had low periodontal score (p < 0.0001).
The study findings suggest that dental examination may be warranted to identify patients at high risk of developing postoperative respiratory infections, the researchers concluded.
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