Background Studies of preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) have shown that a reduced oxygen uptake at anaerobic threshold (AT) and elevated ventilatory equivalent for carbon dioxide (VE/VCO ) were associated with reduced short- and medium-term survival after major surgery. The aim of this study was to determine the relative values of these, and also clinical risk factors, in identifying patients at risk of death after major intra-abdominal, non-vascular surgery.
