Pulmonary rehabilitation: pre-and postoperative treatment

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women and men in the United States. Since 1987, mortality due to lung cancer surpassed death caused by breast cancer in women. Equally discouraging is the fact that survival at five years for all lung cancer patients is only 15%. Despite improved survival in many patients with early disease, the vast majority suffer from significant morbidity and early death. Therefore, proper management of these patients is extremely challenging and requires the utmost collaboration between many different specialties. In lung cancer patients, pulmonary rehabilitation lowers the risk of postoperative complications and reduces the length of hospital stay. At the same time, exercise tolerance is improved, anxiety and depression are controlled, thus improving the quality of life. Even though quality of life is commonly overlooked when treating lung cancer patients, studies have demonstrated that better quality of life is a priority for these patients.