To investigate the risk factors of postoperative pulmonary infection, and to provide the basis for the prevention of pulmonary infection and improvement of operation effect.

Clinical data of 215 patients undergoing esophagectomy in Thoracic Surgery North Sichuan Medical College Affiliated Hospital between 2012-2013 were analyzed, retrospectively. According to whether they had pneumonia after esophagectomy, a total of 215 patients were divided into two groups. In the pneumonia group, there were 95 patients including 73 males and 22 females with the average age of (63.8±7.5) years. In the control group, there were 120 patients including 83 males and 37 females with the average age of (61.7±6.3) years , who did not have pneumonia after esophagectomy. Gender, age, pathological changes location, smoking history, operation time, postoperation hypoproteinemia and perioperative complictions were compared between the two groups by χ² test. Multivariate Logistic regression was performed to analyze the risk factors of pneumonia after esophagectomy.

The χ² test showed that incidences of old ages (≥ 60 years old), tumor location, smoking history (≥ 20 years), operation time (≥ 3 hours), postoperative respiratory machine auxiliary breathing time (≥ 2 hours), perioperative complictions (diabetes mellitus, COPD Ⅲ, hypoproteinemia) of the pneumonia group were significantly higher than those of the control group (P all < 0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that incidences of age ≥ 60 years old (χ²= 4.201, P = 0.04), smoking history ≥ 20 years (χ²= 11.204, P = 0.001), tumor location (χ²= 12.415, P = 0.000), operation time ≥ 3 hours (χ²= 4.28, P = 0.045), postoperative respiratory machine auxiliary breathing time ≥ 2 hours (χ²= 4.565, P = 0.033), perioperative complicted with diabetes mellitus (χ²= 7.335, P = 0.007). COPD ≥ Ⅲ level (χ²= 5.225, P = 0.022), hypoproteinemia (χ²= 4.97, P = 0.026) were the main risk factors of pneumonia after esophagectomy.

Age ≥ 60 years old, tumor location, smoking history ≥ 20 years, operation time ≥ 3 hours, postoperative respiratory machine auxiliary breathing time ≥ 2 hours, perioperative complicted with diabetes mellitus, with COPD ≥ Ⅲ level, with hypoproteinemia were the main risk factors of pneumonia after esophagectomy.