The Efficacy of Home-Based Pulmonary Rehabilitation Training in Aged Patients With Lung Tumor After Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery:A Clinical Randomized Trial
Phase: NA
Conditions: Lung Neoplasms
Sponsor: Chang Gung Memorial Hospital

NCT02757092 
Title:The Impacts of Pulmonary Rehabilitation Therapy on Patients After Thoracic 
Surgery 
Study protocol: 
Compared to traditional surgery, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has 
minimized the wounds and post-surgery complications. However, literature 
suggested older adults have a higher risk of thoracoscopic complications, such as 
pain, pulmonary function insufficiency, pneumonia and decreased exercise capacity. 
Although home-based pulmonary rehabilitation may be beneficial for older adults 
following thoracoscopic surgery, it has not received much attention. Therefore, the 
purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of home-based pulmonary 
rehabilitation on the objective (lung function, exercise capacity, respiratory muscle 
strength, and lung expansion capacity) and subjective (degree of dyspnea) outcomes 
in older adults with lung tumors after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). A 
randomized, controlled design was used. All subjects gave their consents before 
entering the study. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of 
Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. Thirty-six older individuals with lung tumors 
underwent VATS were randomly assigned into the control group receiving standard 
health education and the experimental group underwent a 6-week home-based 
pulmonary rehabilitation program in addition to standard health education. Outcome 
measures included exercise capacity (6-min walk test), respiratory muscle strength 
(maximal inspiratory pressure [MIP], and maximal expiratory pressure [MEP]), lung 
expansion capacity (Triflo), pulmonary functions, and modified Borg dyspnea scores. 
All patients were evaluated at 2, 6, and 12 weeks after discharge from the hospital. 
Descriptive statistics expressed as the mean ± standard deviation or the median and 
interquartile range according to the distribution of variables. Student’s t test and 
two-way repeated measures ANOVA were used for variables with normal 
distribution, while Mann–Whitney U rank test for variables without a normal 
distribution. Fisher’s exact test was used for categorical variables. For group 
comparisons, an intention-to-treat analysis was performed. For all comparisons, P 
< .05 was considered statistically significant. All analyses are performed using SPSS 
20.0 software.