Rehabilitación pulmonar en cáncer pulmonar

Abstract

Lung cancer is a devastating disease that carries tremendous social and economic burden. Pulmonary rehabilitation has emerged as a cost-effective intervention and has been proven to improve exercise capacity, symptoms and quality of life of patients with chronic lung disea- ses, particularly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). There is also increased re- cognition that pulmonary rehabilitation can benefit patients with other respiratory conditions such as primary lung cancer and metastatic lung cancer, in which positive effects have been documented in patients. However, their role in the field of comprehensive treatment has not been well described due to limited investigations to date.Pulmonary rehabilitation has shown in patients with lung cancer to improve strength, resistance and exercise capacity at any stage of disease. The training component of the rehabilitation program in the preoperative and postoperative improves preoperative oxygen consumption, exercise capacity and quality of life; and also reduces the symptoms, postoperative complications and length of hospital stay.The optimum time to initiate pulmonary rehabilitation and the duration of the program in patients who are candidates for surgical management are not yet established, but studies have shown that a 4- to 6-week program adequately prepares those patients with lung cancer and COPD for surgery, reducing functional limitations.Palliative care is a comprehensive long-term approach that can be parallel or integrated to cancer treatment, while pulmonary rehabilitation is a strategy that impacts specific outcomes.