The effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) has been recognized in national and international guidelines and highlighted by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence as one of the six key priorities for improving the care of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. PR is likely to be effective in bronchiectasis as it is in COPD. We evaluated the efficacy of PR in the management of bronchiectasis. Three patients affected by bronchiectasis, with cough, sputum production, dyspnea, and decreased exercise tolerance, were submitted to five months of PR program consisting in treadmill walking, cycle ergometry, breathing exercises, and postural drainage with clapping percussion-vibratory-shaking. In all patients, after PR, chest x-ray showed that the obstructive disease decreased with bronchial wall thickness reduction. This improvement facilitated the performance of breath actions increasing the exercise tolerance and quality of life, evaluated respectively with the 6-minute walking test, the SF36, and the Borg scale. These results highlighted the potential role of PR in patients with bronchiectasis, however further investigations are needed to identify the most eligible patients and to optimize the training programs to maintain long term benefit. Chest x-ray may represent a relevant instrument to observe the clinical improvement of these patients, also when spirometric values do not change significantly.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Patients with Bronchiectasis: Case Reports
RANIERI, Maurizio;FIORE, Pietro
2012-01-01
Abstract
The effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) has been recognized in national and international guidelines and highlighted by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence as one of the six key priorities for improving the care of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. PR is likely to be effective in bronchiectasis as it is in COPD. We evaluated the efficacy of PR in the management of bronchiectasis. Three patients affected by bronchiectasis, with cough, sputum production, dyspnea, and decreased exercise tolerance, were submitted to five months of PR program consisting in treadmill walking, cycle ergometry, breathing exercises, and postural drainage with clapping percussion-vibratory-shaking. In all patients, after PR, chest x-ray showed that the obstructive disease decreased with bronchial wall thickness reduction. This improvement facilitated the performance of breath actions increasing the exercise tolerance and quality of life, evaluated respectively with the 6-minute walking test, the SF36, and the Borg scale. These results highlighted the potential role of PR in patients with bronchiectasis, however further investigations are needed to identify the most eligible patients and to optimize the training programs to maintain long term benefit. Chest x-ray may represent a relevant instrument to observe the clinical improvement of these patients, also when spirometric values do not change significantly.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
