• Hadel Shahood, Annamaria Pakai, Kiss Rudolf, Eva Bory, Noemi Szilagyi, Adrienn Sandor, and Verzar Zsofia.
• From the Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Pécs Medical School, Pécs, Hungary.
• Ann Saudi Med. 2022 Jan 1; 42 (1): 8-16.

BackgroundPostoperative pulmonary complications in patients who undergo open heart surgery are serious life-threatening conditions. Few studies have investigated the potentially beneficial effects of preoperative physiotherapy in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.ObjectivesAssess the effects of preoperative chest physiotherapy on oxygenation and lung function in patients undergoing open heart surgery.DesignRandomized, controlled.SettingUniversity hospital.Patients And MethodsPatients with planned open heart surgery were randomly allocated into an intervention group of patients who underwent a preoperative home chest physiotherapy program for one week in addition to the traditional postoperative program and a control group who underwent only the traditional postoperative program. Lung function was assessed daily from the day before surgery until the seventh postoperative day.Main Outcome MeasuresDifferences in measures of respiratory function and oxygen saturation. Length of postoperative hospital stay was a secondary outcome.Sample Size100 patients (46 in intervention group, 54 in control group).ResultsPostoperative improvements in lung function and oxygen saturation in the intervention group were statistically significant compared with the control group. The intervention group also had a statistically significant shorter hospital stay (P<.01).ConclusionPreoperative chest physiotherapy is effective in improving respiratory function following open heart surgery.LimitationsRelatively small number of patients.Conflict Of InterestNone.RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04665024).

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