Published Paper Details:

Background: Cardiovascular Disease is the top leading cause of death in a south-Asian country like India. Cardiothoracic surgery is one of the treatments of choice in severe morbidity condition to reduce mortality rate and disability. Despite recent advances and updated technical instrumentation postoperative pulmonary complication is a critical problem. Physiotherapy works efficiently to minimise postoperative complication to improve the health status of the patient. Aims and objectives: The purpose of the study is to evaluate the immediate effect of Stacked Breathing technique on Peak Expiratory Flow rate[PEFR] and Oxygen Saturation[SpO2] in Cardiothoracic surgery Patient. Methodology: Out of a total of 119 screened patients, only 105 were able to complete the intervention. Stacked Breathing was performed by the patient twice daily [Morning and Afternoon] for 1st, 2nd and 3rd postoperative days termed as six-session [ IA, IB, IIA, IIB, IIIA, IIIB where, A=morning, B= afternoon and I to III is Postoperative day 1 to 3] pre and postexercise outcome were measured and data collected. Statistical analysis: Instant software was used for statistical analysis. As data is not normally distributed Dunn test [Non-Parametric repeated measure ANOVA] were used followed by post hoc test. Result: Comparing IA Vs. IIIB, net 40.73% change in PEFR value is observed. Statistically significant improvement in PEFR with p-value <0.001 is seen. Oxygen saturation shows statistically significant improvement with p-value <0.001 with each session daily. Conclusion: Stacked Breathing can be used as a treatment tool to increase Peak Expiratory Flow Rate and Oxygen Saturation in a patient with cardiothoracic surgery in their early postoperative days. Keywords: Stacked Breathing, Cardio-thoracic surgery, Peak Expiratory Flow Rate, Oxygen Saturation. Trial registration: Indian National Institute of Medical Statistics (Indian Council of Medical Research) was done. CTRI registration no. CTRI/2018/05/014193.