Inspiratory Muscle and Functional Performance of Patients Entering Cardiac Rehabilitation after Cardiac Valve Replacement

Abstract

Limited research has examined inspiratory muscle performance (IMP) and functional performance (FP) of patients after valve replacement surgery (VRS). The purpose of this study was to examine IMP as well as several measures of FP in patients post-VRS. The study results of 27 patients revealed that patients undergoing transcatheter VRS were significantly (p = 0.01) older than patients undergoing minimally invasive or median sternotomy VRS with the median sternotomy VRS group performing significantly (p p p < 0.05) relationships were found between IMP and FP with greater IMP being associated with greater FP. Pre-operative and early post-operative rehabilitation may improve IMP and FP post-VRS.

Keywords

• valve replacement surgery
• cardiac surgery
• inspiratory muscle strength
• maximal inspiratory pressure
• sustained maximal inspiratory pressure
• respiratory muscle performance