Objective To assess the value of pulmonary ventilation test in evaluating the prognosis of cardiac surgery patients. Methods Data were collected retrospectively from consecutive patients with coronary heart disease or valvular disease, who were prepared for cardiac surgery in Zhongshan Hospital from January 2007 to December 2008. The main outcome indices were mortality of surgery, the prolonging time of using artificial airway ( ≥3 days) , and the prolonging time in intensive care units ( ICU) ( ≥5 days) . Then the relationship between the poor outcome and ventilation disorder was analyzed. Results In the 422 cases,the incidence of ventilation disorder was 55% , included 27. 5% restrictive ventilation disorder, 15. 6% obstructive ventilation disorder, and 11. 8% mixed ventilation disorder. And the severity of pulmonaryventilation disorder was mild of 34. 6% , moderate of 15. 2% , and severe of 5. 2% . Among the 42 patients who gave up surgery,50% were due to ventilation dysfunction, and the patients were prone to give up surgery with the deterioration of pulmonary function( P lt; 0. 001) . But comparing with the patients with normal pulmonary function, the risk of poor outcome after surgery did not significantly increase in the patients with ventilation disorder ( P gt; 0. 05 ) . The logistic regression analysis indicated that cardiopulmonary bypass ( CPB) was an absolute risk factor ( P lt; 0. 05) . Conclusions The incidence of ventilation disorder in patients with cardiac disease is quite high. Severe pulmonary ventilation disorder is the significant cause of giving up surgery, but may be not the absolute contraindication of cardiac surgery.