Evaluation of pulmonary rehabilitation after lung resection through opto-electronic plethysmography

The aim of this study is to evaluate the Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) and post-operative complications on lung cancer patients by means of opto-electronic plethysmography (OEP). FEV1 and FVC have been measured through OEP on 13 lung cancer patients, before and after lobectomy and after pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). In every patient, FEV1 decreases after surgery, whereas FVC decreases only in 8 patients. Mean FEV1 and FVC decrease in every compartment of chest wall (CW) and in CW after lobectomy and improve in post-rehabilitation phase (ΔFEV1_CW=+31%; ΔFVC_CW = +13%). The highest positive variation of FEV1 has been measured in rib-cage abdominal compartment (ΔFEV1_RCa =+59%) and of FVC in abdomen (ΔFVC_AB = +24%), after PR. FEV1 and FVC measurements show significant changes after PR in every compartment and in CW. The measurement of the single compartment volumes can not be achieved through other devices which measure pulmonary volumes (i.e. spirometers, pneumotachographs). These pulmonary parameters measured through OEP, help to give detailed information about postoperative conditions and PR. As the OEP allows a more complete evaluation of the effects of the PR than spirometers and pneumotachographs, it can be considered at the forefront in this field. Thus, a customization of the rehabilitation program for every patient and every disease, on the basis of the compartment volumes, becomes possible.