Nomogram predicts risk of pulmonary infections in surgery patients

A novel nomogram developed by clinicians accurately predicts postoperative pulmonary infections (popis) in esophageal cancer patients. Evaluated across 910 patients, it identified six independent risk factors: age, anemia, neoadjuvant therapy, T stage, thoracic adhesions, and duration of surgery. The model demonstrated strong discrimination with areas under the curve (AUC) of 0.8095, 0.8039, and 0.7174 in training, validation, and external test cohorts, respectively, enabling timely interventions for high-risk patients.