| Popis: |
Background: Radiotherapy become a treatment of choice for localized lung cancer or esophageal cancer when surgery cannot be an option due to poor lung function. Radiotherapy can affect pulmonary function and induce pneumonitis or pneumonia, which can be fatal sometimes in patients with respiratory impairment. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to evaluate if the reduction of pulmonary function after radiotherapy can be minimized through simultaneous pulmonary rehabilitation (PR). Methods: The patients who were diagnosed with malignancy pathologically and conducted chest radiotherapy from January 2018 to June 2019 were retrospectively analyzed in this matched case – control study. The results of the pulmonary function test and 6 minute walk test (6MWT) conducted within six months before and after radiotherapy were analyzed. Results: A total of 144 patients were analyzed and 11 patients among them performed PR simultaneously with radiotherapy. Among 133 patients in control group, 33 patients were matched with 11 patients in the PR group. The change from baseline in FEV1 was different significantly between the PR group and the matched control group (+240mL vs. -10mL, P=0.017) and FEV1/FVC increased more in PR group (+5.5% vs. +1.0%, P=0.038). The median distance of 6MWT in PR group was also increased from 407.5m to 493.0m after PR during radiotherapy (P=0.017). Conclusions: PR during chest radiotherapy improved short term pulmonary function, especially in FEV1, and exercise capacity in patients with lung or esophageal cancer. This can be an important basis for further studies to identify the effects of PR during chest radiotherapy through large study with long-term follow up period. |
