The incidence of pulmonary complications in patients not receiving prophylactic chest physiotherapy after cardiac surgery

Following the recommendations of Stiller et al (1994), patients undergoing routine cardiac surgery in our unit no longer receive pre- or post-operative prophylactic chest physiotherapy. The purpose of this prospective study was to document the incidence of clinically significant pulmonary complications subsequent to this change in management. Altogether, 127 patients who underwent cardiac surgery during an 8-week period completed the study. Nine (7.1%) patients developed clinically significant post-operative pulmonary complications. This was not significantly different from the incidence reported by Stiller et al (1994). These results provide further evidence that prophylactic chest physiotherapy is not required after routine cardiac surgery.