Case Reports in Medicine (Jan 2012)

Pulmonary Rehabilitation Using Modified Threshold Inspiratory Muscle Trainer (IMT) in Patients with Tetraplegia

  • Funda Yasar,
  • Canturk Tasci,
  • Sema Savci,
  • Ergun Tozkoparan,
  • Omer Deniz,
  • Arzu Balkan,
  • Hayati Bilgic

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/587901
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2012

Abstract

Read online

It is aimed to present the usefulness of inspiratory muscle trainer (IMT) in treatment of a 20-year-old male patient with diaphragmatic paralysis and tetraplegia due to spinal cord injury (SCI), and supporting effect of IMT in recovering from respiratory failure by rendering his diaphragm functions. The treatment was applied through the tracheostomy cannula by a modified IMT device. After applying IMT for three weeks, it was observed that the diaphragm recovered its functions in electromyography (EMG) test. As a result, in this study, we present a case where a patient could live without any respiratory device for the rest of his life with the help of modified IMT.