Objective: To investigate the effectiveness of a home-based preoperative rehabilitation program for improving preoperative lung function and surgical outcome of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) undergoing lobectomy for cancer. Methods: This was a prospective, observational, single-center study including 59 patients with mild COPD who underwent lobectomy for lung cancer. All patients attended a home-based preoperative rehabilitation program including a minimum of 3 sessions each week for 4 weeks. Each session included aerobic and anaerobic exercises. Participants recorded the frequency and the duration of exercise performed in a diary. The primary end point was to evaluate changes in lung function including predicted postoperative (PPO) forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), 6-minute walking distance test (6MWD), PPO diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO) %, and blood gas analysis values before and after the rehabilitation program. Postoperative pulmonary complications were recorded and multivariable analysis was used to identify independent prognostic factors (secondary end point). Results: All patients completed the 4-week rehabilitation program. Thirteen of 59 (22%) patients (Group A) performed <3 sessions per week (mean sessions per week: 2.3±1.3); 46 of 59 (78%) patients (Group B) performed ⩾3 sessions per week (mean sessions per week: 3.5±1.6). The comparison of PPO FEV1% and 6MWD before and after rehabilitation showed a significant improvement only in Group B. No significant changes in PPO DLCO% or in blood gas analysis values were seen. Nine patients presented postoperative pulmonary complications, including atelectasis ( n = 6), pneumonia ( n = 1), respiratory failure ( n = 1), and pulmonary embolism ( n = 1). Group A presented higher number of postoperative pulmonary complications than Group B (6 vs 3; p = 0.0005). Multivariate analysis showed that the number of weekly rehabilitation sessions was the only independent predictive factor ( p = 0.001). Conclusions: Our simple and low-cost rehabilitation program could improve preoperative clinical function in patients with mild to moderate COPD undergoing lobectomy and reduce postoperative pulmonary complications. All patients should be motivated to complete at least 3 rehabilitation sessions per week in order to obtain significant clinical benefits. Our preliminary results should be confirmed by larger prospective studies.
Objective: Erector spine plane block (ESPB) is a newly defined regional anesthesia technique performed by injection of local anesthetic beneath the erector spine muscle. We tested ESPB as a regional rescue analgesia bedside technique to be performed in the thoracic surgical ward, reporting a 7-patient case series. Methods: We report our experience in rescue analgesia after thoracic surgery. During the postoperative stay, numeric rating scale (NRS) score >3 and inability to perform physiotherapy or effective cough due to postoperative pain represented the criteria for proposing rescue analgesia with ESPB. NRS at rest and during movements was recorded; blood gas analysis and spirometry were performed to evaluate PaO2/FiO2 (P/F), forced vital capacity (FVC), and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) before ESPB execution. After performing the ESPB, static and dynamic NRS, P/F, and FVC and FEV1 were recorded at 40 minutes and 80 minutes. Results: NRS had a reduction at rest and in dynamic assessment. The P/F did not improve but spirometric measures improved. FVC had a relevant improvement only after 80 minutes; FEV1 was increased after 40 minutes. Conclusion: The use of ESPB as postoperative rescue analgesia can offer several advantages due to effective rescue analgesia and safety that makes it easy to perform in the thoracic surgical ward or in an outpatient clinic setting.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.