2015 Volume 29 Issue 6 Pages 737-744
We performed perioperative pulmonary rehabilitation for a patient who was considered as medically inoperable prior to radical surgery for lung cancer. The patient showed combined impairment, an advanced age, renal dysfunction, anemia, malnutrition, and infection from a cavity caused by the cancer. We considered that these factors would decrease the patient's activity, and so we performed pulmonary rehabilitation before the operation, including giving advice to the patient. As a result, we succeeded in maintaining his performance status. The patient underwent right upper and middle lobectomy with combined resection for the chest wall invasion. From the first day after the operation, we started pulmonary rehabilitation twice a day (almost every day). We could maintain the amount of activity to provide rehabilitation frequently. As a result, he was discharged using a walking cane 45 days after the operation. After 3 months, he could walk 276 meters in the 6-minute walk test, and his activities of daily living are independent.
