Efficacy of different physiotherapies for pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with acute exacerbation of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Objective To assess the effect of different physical therapies for pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with acute exacerbation of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (AECOPD). Methods Between January, 2016 and September, 2018, a total of 68 inpatients with AECOPD were randomized for treatment with high-frequency chest wall oscillation (HFCWO group, n=24), expiration with the glottis open in the lateral posture (ELTGOL group, n=24), or routine treatment without assisted ventilation or expectoration (control group, n=20). All the patients were given routine medications in addition to the specified treatments for 2 weeks, and the changes in the pulmonary function indexes, blood gas parameters, clinical symptom scores, hospital stay and the quality of life scores were assessed after the treatments. Results Compared with those in the control group, the patients in both the HFCWO group and ELTGOL group showed significant improvements in pulmonary function indexes and blood gas parameters (P < 0.05) with significantly reduced clinical symptom scores (P < 0.05) after the treatments. The quality of life score was also significantly improved after the treatments in HFCWO and ELTGOL groups (P < 0.05), which had significantly shorter hospital stay compared than the control group (P < 0.05). These improvements were significantly more obvious in HFCWO group than in ELTGOL group. Conclusion Both HFCWO and ELTGOL can effectively improve the pulmonary function and blood gas parameters in patients with severe AECOPD, but HFCWO can produce better therapeutic effect than ELTGOL.

Keywords

• physiotherapy
• high-frequency chest wall oscillation
• expiration with the glottis open in the lateral posture
• acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• pulmonary rehabilitation