It’s scary to think about having your chest cut open and your heart operated on. But someday you may find yourself in that situation, given that cardiac surgery is among the most common surgical procedures in the world. In the event that your doctor recommends elective heart surgery, of course you’d want to do whatever you could to ensure an easy recovery.
Well, now there is an important step you can take before elective heart surgery to speed your recovery afterward, a recent study reveals. The key is respiratory physical therapy, which helps prepare your lungs to withstand the stress of surgery.
Why worry about your lungs when it’s your heart that is going under the knife? Potentially life-threatening pulmonary complications, such as pneumonia and collapsed lungs, are estimated to occur after at least 20% of cardiac surgeries. This may be due to the effects of anesthesia on lung gases, use of cardiopulmonary bypass (heart-lung machine), chest incisions, diaphragm problems, etc.
Respiratory physical therapy is routinely recommended after cardiac surgery—but researchers wanted to know whether it would confer additional benefits if also provided before surgery. So they reviewed data from eight studies involving a total of 856 adults who were awaiting elective cardiac surgery, such as valve replacement or coronary artery surgery.
Each study included a control group that got no preoperative respiratory therapy…plus a treatment group that, prior to surgery, received regular sessions of respiratory therapy of at least one type. Therapy techniques included incentive spirometry (with lips sealed around the mouthpiece of a handheld device, you try to keep a little ball afloat within the contraption by taking long, deep inhalations)…specially designed breathing and coughing exercises…and aerobic exercise training.
Encouraging findings: Compared with patients in the control groups, those in the presurgical respiratory therapy groups were only about half as likely to develop postsurgical pneumonia or to suffer a collapsed lung…and their average hospital stay after surgery was reduced by more than three days.
What explains the results? Researchers suggested that it was the improved strength and endurance of the respiratory muscles due to the breathing exercises. Because this study focused exclusively on cardiac surgery, it’s unclear whether patients anticipating other types of chest or upper abdominal surgery also might benefit from preoperative respiratory therapy—but it makes sense that they would. More research is needed to confirm that.
Pre-op pulmonary prep: If you are anticipating heart surgery, talk to your doctor about presurgical respiratory physical therapy. Improving your lung health now could be your key to a faster, easier recovery.
