Impact of an exercise program on postoperative complications and hospital stay following lung resection

ABSTRACT

To develop and implement an exercise program for patients undergoing lung resection and to assess the impact of this exercise program on postoperative pulmonary complications and hospital stay following lung resection. 59 patients underlying lung resection were included in the study. Patients were randamly assigned to two groups 35 as controls and 24 as intervention group. All patients had preoperative assessment [including history taking physical examination, general laboratory tests, arterial blood gases, pulmonary function tests, 12-lead surface ECG and color Doppler echocardiography as well as postoperative pulmonary function tests [3 months postoperative] and hospital stay. Postoperative pulmonary complications were noted according to a precise definition. The intervention group was subjected to pre- and postoperative exercise program. The risk of PPC's associated with selected factors was evaluated. The operations performed included 13 RUL, 9RML, 13RLL, 15LUL and 9 LLL. Fifty-nine patients were studied [35 patients as control and 24 patients as intervention]. There were no differences between the 2 groups regarding age, sex, BMI, pulmonary functions tests ABG, and general laboratory results also had preoperative cardiovascular evaluation criteria that did not differ between the 2 groups. PPCs occurred in 12 patients of controls [34.3%] compared to 2 patients in intervention group [8.3%]; a difference that was highly statistically significant [p<0.001]. The hospital slay was significantly shorter in the intervention group compared to controls [p<0.001] There was no significant difference between patients with and without postoperative complications regarding results of pulmonary function tests. Exercise program developed and evaluated in this study could decrease the frequency of PPCs and shorten hospital stay. Preoperative pulmonary function tests did not contribute to the identification of high-risk patients