Effectiveness of home-based preoperative pulmonary rehabilitation in COPD patients undergoing lung cancer resection.

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. 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 (FEV 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 FEV 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.