Introduction: Patients undergoing thoracic surgical operation occasionally need intensive care during the early postoperative period. However, intensive care unit admission may inherently lead to complications and prolonged hospital stay. Aim of the study to identify the patients who need intensive care and define the parameters that indicate the necessity for intensive care Methods: A total of 813 patients who were operated on for a thoracic disease between July 2007 and January 2010 in the thoracic surgical clinic of a university hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The chi-square test was used. p <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Mean age was 46.7±19.1 years, 66.6% of the patients were male, and mean length of hospital stay was 5.3±4.8 days. Six hundred twenty-four patients were operated on. A thoracotomy was performed in 37.3% of patients. Ninety patients (38.6%) had lobectomy. Seventy-two percent of pneumonectomy patients were admitted to ICU, whereas 30% of lobectomy patients stayed in ICU. The most common cause of ICU admission was postoperative follow-up (7%). Smoking, old age, sex, type of surgery, places they live were found to be a predictive factor for ICU need (p<0.05). In addition, comorbid patients were more frequently followed in ICU. Conclusions: Thoracic surgery patients frequently requirement ICU care. Smoking, old age, and having comorbid diseases seemed to increase ICU need.