Respiratory Rehabilitation to Reduce Respiratory Complications after Cardiovascular Surgery

The number of cardiovascular surgical operations has been increasing, accompanied by an increase in the number of patients with an aging patient and various comorbidities. For this reason, the risk of respiratory complications after cardiovascular surgery is high, and ingenuity to alleviate this is necessary. We evaluated preoperative respiratory function and examined whether there is a difference in the onset of postoperative respiratory complications with or without respiratory rehabilitation from preoperative. As a result, the incidence of respiratory complications was significantly reduced in the group subjected to preoperative respiratory rehabilitation. Also, the intensive care unit stay was significantly shortened. From this, it is important to perform respiratory rehabilitation from preoperative time. And as a breathing exercise method, active cycle breathing technique is safe and highly effective.