Pneumonectomy on a patient with documented poor pulmonary function indicating a contraindication to surgery can be associated with a high risk of serious postoperative morbidity or mortality. However the usual criterias, on the performance of a pneumonectomy on a high risk patient based on the preoperative assessment of the pulmonary function may not sometimes predict with accuracy the operative outcome in the postoperative period. We recently performed pneumonectomy with good results on a patient with poor pulmonary function that would otherwise have been an absolute contraindication to surgery by usual criteria.