The Clinical Value of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Reducing Postoperative Complications and Mortality of Lung Cancer Resection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Pulmonary rehabilitation is one meaningful way of improving exercise tolerance and pulmonary function. Thus, it may reduce the postoperative complications and mortality of pulmonary resection. Hence, we refreshed the data and conducted this systemic analysis. Method: We searched Pubmed, Web of Science, and EMBASE using “lung OR pulmonary” AND “operation OR resection OR surgery” AND “rehabilitation or exercise.” The cut-off date was September 30, 2020. The publications were filtrated, and data were extracted from all selected studies by two reviewers. Review Manger 5.1 and the fixed or random regression model were used for calculating the pooled odds ratio (OR). Result: Finally, 13 publications were enrolled in this study. Among them, five publications reported mortality, nine reported postoperative complications, and seven reported postoperative pulmonary complications. The pooled OR of mortality was 1.32 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.54–3.23] for the pulmonary rehabilitation group, the pooled OR of postoperative complications was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.49–0.79) for the pulmonary rehabilitation group, and the pooled OR of postoperative pulmonary complications was 0.39 (95% CI: 0.27–0.56) for the pulmonary rehabilitation group. Subgroup analysis revealed the perioperative pulmonary rehabilitation was the most important part. Conclusion: Pulmonary rehabilitation may not affect the mortality of pulmonary resection patients, however, it could decrease the number of postoperative complications, especially pulmonary complications. Perioperative pulmonary rehabilitation was the most important part of the program.