The usefulness of respiratory physiotherapy for the prevention of pulmonary complications after cardiac surgery remains unproved .
OBJECTIVE To assess whether respiratory physiotherapy prevents pulmonary complications after cardiac surgery .
Mask physiotherapy in patients after heart surgery: A controlled study
Objective Investigate the effects of mask physiotherapy on post-operative complications after thoracic surgery . Design A prospect i ve , consecutive , r and omized , controlled study . Setting Department of Thoracic and Heart Surgery at a University Hospital . The treatments were performed by experienced and specially trained physiotherapists . Patients 97 low-risk male patients undergoing coronary artery by-pass graft surgery were evaluated . 66 patients completed the study . Interventions The patients were treated with routine chest physiotherapy alone or supplied with either positive expiratory pressure ( PEP ) , or inspiratory resistance-positive expiratory pressure ( IR-PEP ) . Measurements and results Post-operative pulmonary complications were assessed by forced vital capacity ( FVC ) , arterial oxygen tension ( PaO2 ) , and chest X-ray examination , all measured pre-operatively and on the third and sixth post-operative day . There was an almost equal decrease and subsequent rise in spirometric and blood gas values , but patients treated with the PEP mask had a borderly significantly higher increase in PaO2 from day 3 to day 6 compared with patients treated with no mask . There was an almost equal frequency of atelectasis in the 3 treatments . The patients filled in a question aire expressing their opinion about their treatment . Most patients liked their treatment and found it helpful but a little less so in the IR-PEP group . Conclusion We did not find any significant difference between the three groups ; however , a tendency to decreased risk of having post-operative complications was observed in the groups having positive expiratory pressure ( PEP ) and inspiratory resistance-positive expiratory pressure ( IR-PEP )
The usefulness of respiratory physiotherapy for the prevention of pulmonary complications after cardiac surgery remains unproved .
OBJECTIVE To assess whether respiratory physiotherapy prevents pulmonary complications after cardiac surgery .