[Lung physiotherapy as prophylaxis against atelectasis and pneumonia after abdominal surgery]

Postoperative pulmonary complications play a significant role for the postoperative morbidity after abdominal surgery. To prevent this, an array of methods, such as lung physiotherapy, incentive spirometry, or mask treatment with positive airway pressure are used. The available controlled studies indicate that none of these treatment modalities reduce the occurrence of postoperative atelectasis, but only lung physiotherapy is able to reduce the development of postoperative pneumonia. Thus, we recommend lung physiotherapy as prophylactic treatment after abdominal surgery. The value of optimized pain alleviation and mobilisation in addition to lung physiotherapy should be evaluated in future trials.