Chest
Clinical InvestigationsChest Percussion and Postural Drainage in Patients with Bronchiectasis
Section snippets
Methods
A total of 13 patients (11 men and two women), ranging in age from 31 to 68 (mean 52) years, were included in this study. The patients were selected from individuals seen in outpatient pulmonary clinics of the University Health Center Hospitals.
Patients were entered in the study if they met the following criteria:
- (1)
Were diagnosed as having bronchiectasis and were being followed as outpatients by the University of Pittsburgh Division of Pulmonary Medicine. The diagnoses were, in general,
Results
Results of baseline pulmonary function tests and resting oxygen saturations for the study population are shown in Table 1. The patients had a wide range of pulmonary function abnormalities with reductions in forced vital capacity (mean 3.00 ±1.20 L – 69 ± 29 percent of predicted), FEV1 (mean 1.66 ±0.74 L – 53±24 percent of predicted), and PEF (mean 5.05 ±3.00 L/s – 36 percent of predicted).
The results of pulmonary function testing, oxygen saturation measurements, and heart rate measurements for
Discussion
This study demonstrates that chest physical therapy in patients with bronchiectasis is safe and helpful in the mobilization of secretions. However, this removal of secretions is not associated with any change in the pulmonary function indices which were measured.
The results of chest physical therapy on pulmonary function in this study are comparable to that found in other studies of adult patients with stable chronic lung disease. Both May and Munt11 and March12 studied patients with chronic
References (19)
- et al.
Regional lung clearance of excessive bronchial secretions during chest physiotherapy in patients with stable chronic airways obstruction
Lancet
(1979) - et al.
Effect of physiotherapy on pulmonary function
Lancet
(1978) - et al.
Physiologic effects of chest percussion and postural drainage in patients with stable chronic bronchitis
Chest
(1979) - et al.
Chest physical therapy: the immediate effect on oxygenation in acutely ill patients
Chest
(1980) - et al.
Effects of sputum on pulmonary function
Br Med J
(1977) - et al.
Is cough as effective as chest physiotherapy in the removal of excessive tracheobronchial secretions?
Thorax
(1981) - et al.
Assessment of forced expiration technique, postural drainage and directed coughing in chest physiotherapy
Eur J Respir Dis
(1983) - et al.
The value of lung physiotherapy in the treatment of acute exacerbations in chronic bronchitis
Acta Med Scand
(1964) - et al.
The effect of chest physiotherapy upon the FEV1 in chronic bronchitis
Med J Aust
(1975)
Cited by (51)
Nonpharmacologic airway clearance techniques – Is there trustworthy evidence for their clinical usefulness?
2017, Respiratory InvestigationChest Physiotherapy Techniques in Bronchiectasis
2012, Clinics in Chest MedicineCitation Excerpt :There is little evidence of the effectiveness of MTs. Evidence suggests a trend toward an increased rate of clearance with percussion and chest compression.21–23 PEP uses a set resistance that is applied throughout expiration to enhance the mobilization of secretions.
Improvement in health status following bronchopulmonary hygiene physical therapy in patients with bronchiectasis
2008, Respiratory MedicineCitation Excerpt :Despite its routine use in both acute exacerbations and chronic non-cystic fibrosis (CF) bronchiectasis, the evidence for its efficacy is limited. BHPT may reduce sputum volume and increase clearance but there are no studies investigating the impact of BHPT on health-related QOL.6–8 A recent Cochrane database systematic review identified few clinical trials investigating BHPT in non-CF bronchiectasis and most of these contained small numbers of patients.9
Manuscript received January 22; revision accepted March 20.