| Postoperative pulmonary infection is one of the most common and severe complications following surgery, with particularly high incidence among patients undergoing cardiac, thoracic, and abdominal operations, as well as elderly patients, and it is associated with high mortality. At present, there are no targeted preventive and therapeutic strategies. According to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the pathogenesis of postoperative pulmonary infection is mostly related to pre-existing deficiency of healthy qi, surgical trauma leading to fluid accumulation in the Sanjiao, invasion of pathogenic toxins attacking the lung, and resultant phlegm and blood stasis obstructing the lung, which eventually cause stagnation of dampness and failure of the lung in dispersing and descending. Based on the Zang-Fu viscera theory, the defensive-qi-nutrient-blood theory, and the qi-blood-fluid theory, this paper systematically elaborates the TCM etiology and pathogenesis of postoperative pulmonary infection, and summarizes the TCM prevention and treatment approaches, so as to provide new ideas, theoretical and methodological evidence for the integrated prevention and treatment of postoperative pulmonary infection. |
