Does chest physiotherapy before and after surgery improve respiratory function in patients undergoing heart surgery compared to chest physiotherapy only after surgery?
Preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation significantly improves postoperative respiratory function parameters (FVC, PEF, PCO2, SpO2) in patients undergoing heart surgery.
Introduction: Prevention of pulmonary complications after coronary artery bypass graft is attended as a very important issue. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of pulmonary rehabilitation before surgery for reducing the risk of pulmonary complications after surgery. Methods: In a randomized clinical trial, 60 patients undergoing heart surgery were randomly divided into two groups A and B. Chest physiotherapy was performed before and after surgery on group A patients however it was done on group B’s, only after surgery. Effects of preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation were compared between two groups, using spirometry and arterial blood gas (ABG). Results: Thirty nine males (65%) and 21 females (35%) with mean age of 8.10 ± 9.56 were analyzed.The mean differences were statistically significant for predicted forced vital capacity (FVC) (CI95%:1.3 to 8.7) and Predicted Peak Flow indices (PEF) (CI 95%: 1.9 to 9.4) of spirometry indicator,PCO2 index (of ABG parameter) (CI 95%: 1.4 to 8.9) and mean oxygen saturation (mean Spo2) (CI 95%: 0.6 to 1.7) of ABG index in two groups. Conclusion: The performance of pulmonary rehabilitation program before surgery is recommended, as it may result in the reduction of complications of heart surgery.
Shakuri et al. (Sun,) studied this question.