Abstract
The purpose of preoperative respiratory care is to achieve early ambulation after surgery by improving the patient's general condition and preventing serious postoperative lung complications. Therefore, it is important to perform preoperative evaluation and predict postoperative complications and the effect on respiratory function by surgical approach. Smoking cessation for at least 1 month before surgery is recommended for smokers because they are at a significantly higher risk of developing postoperative pneumonia than non-smokers. Systematic reviews on various techniques of airway clearance have not provided convincing evidence of their effectiveness. The use of an airway clearance technique should therefore be based on the patient's condition in consideration of its advantages and disadvantages. Incentive spirometry is routinely used after surgery, but there is no sufficient evidence supporting its effectiveness. Lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and head and neck cancer are strongly related to smoking, and therefore patients with such cancers often have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).Because there is an association between airflow limitation in COPD and the incidence of postoperative lung complications, it is of great significance to preoperatively provide comprehensive respiratory care, including improvement of respiratory function, in patients with COPD. There have been a number of reports that preoperative respiratory care, such as inspiratory muscle training, reduces postoperative lung complications. Further studies are necessary to provide high-quality evidence.
