Abstract
We evaluated the effect of preoperative pulmonary physical therapy with exercise training in esophageal cancer surgery. The 54 subjects were retrospectively divided into 2 groups, i.e., 40 with and 14 without preoperative pulmonary physical therapy. Postoperative hospital stays numbered 29.9 days in the preoperative group and 67.9 days in the nonpreoperative group (p=0.02). The incidence of postoperative respiratory complications was 28% in the preoperative group and 43% in the nonpreoperative group. To evaluate postoperative respiratory complications, we divided 34 patients retrospectively into 3 groups based on 21 with no complications (NC group), 8 undergoing preoperative physical therapy with respiratory complication (preoperative + RC), and 5 nonpreoperative physical therapy patients with respiratory complication (nonpreoperative + RC). Postoperative hospital stays were 20.1 days in the NC group, 31.3 in the preoperative + RC group, and 69.4 in the nonpreoperative + RC group. Medical expenses were 1.3 times higher in the preoperative + RC group and 1.8 times higher in the nonpreoperative + RC group, compared to the NC group. Pre-and postoperative pulmonary physical therapy with exercise therapy thus effectively prevented pulmonary complications and shortened postoperative hospital stays lowering medical expenses.
