Ｉnfluences of Surgical Invasion on Respiratory Muscle Function : Comparison of Three Types of Surgery

A respiratory muscle weakness after surgery is one of the important factors of respiratory failure. Therefore, a quantitative evaluation of muscle weakness has recently become topics. However, a few studies have been reported on post-operative respiratory muscle dysfunction with thoraco-abdominal surgery especially in case of esophagus cancer. The purpose of this study was to clarify three types of surgery including thoraco-abdominal surgery on respiratory muscle function. The subjects were 32 patients that consisted of three groups, 1) thoraco-abdominal surgery (9 patients), 2) thoracotomy (9 patients) and 3) abdominal surgery (14 patients). Respiratory muscle strength and endurance were measured as pressure at mouth with pressure transducer. The postoperative measurement was done when the pain bad diminished and patients become cooperative to measurements. The post-operative respiratory muscle function in the patients with thoraco-abdominal surgery decreased mostly among this three groups. These results suggest that the patients need active respiratory muscle training such as flow resistive load exercise