Rationale and clinical benefits of an intensive long-term pulmonary rehabilitation program after oesophagectomy: preliminary report

Patients who undergo oesophagectomy for oesophageal cancer (OC) usually have an overall poor prognosis and, still more preoccupying, an unsatisfactory quality of life (QoL). Considering that as already noted post-operative pulmonary function has a strong correlation with the long-term outcome and QoL after surgery, we have assumed and speculated on the clinical benefits of an intensive long-term pulmonary post-operative rehabilitation program in this particular subset of patients.Herein we report the preliminary results of a comparative retrospective analysis in a series of 58 patients who underwent radical oesophagectomy and post-operative chest physical therapy (CPT) under two different protocols from October 2006 to January 2011.Finally we discuss on the time-trend analysis of pulmonary function and the potential role of postoperative pulmonary rehabilitation.KeywordsChest physical therapy, Oesophagectomy, Rehabilitation, Surgery

Author: Filippo LococoAlfredo CesarioSilvia SterziGiovanni MagroneValentina Dall’ArmiFrancesca MatteiFrancesco VaroneVenanzio PorziellaStefano MargaritoraPierluigi Granone
Credits/Source: Multidisciplinary Respiratory Medicine 2012, 7:21

Published on: 2012-07-29

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