Muhammad Arif, Muhammad Salman Bashir, Rabiya Noor.
Effectiveness of chest physiotherapy in the management of bronchiectasis.
Ann King Edward Med Uni Jan ;20(3):205-18.

Bronchiectasis is a chronic disease in which clearance of sputum is disturbed because bronchi dilated permanently.1 So for the clearance of sputum we have to use physiotherapy techniques such as postural drainage percussion and vibration (PDPV), active cycle of breathing technique (ACBT), autogenic drainage, positive expiratory pressure, high frequency chest wall oscillation.2 Objective: To determine the role of Chest Physical therapy intervention in the management of Bronchiectasis. To compare the prognosis of bronchiectasis with and without chest physiotherapy. Methodology: Data was collected from Gulab Devi Chest Hospital, Lahore. A Randomized Control Trial (RCT) study method was used and 60 patients are studied. In this study, they were divided into 03 groups 1-Antibiotics Therapy 2-Chest Physical therapy 3-Antibiotics and Chest Physical therapy. Each group consisted of 20 patients. Patients are assessed on detailed questionnaire prepared for this purpose and on available medical record of Peek expiratory flow rate (PE-FR), and Modified Borg’s Dyspnea scale, Sputum Quantity, Breath Sounds and SpO2 is used for scoring. Then these patients undergone through intensive chest physiotherapy in the department and regular follow up visits to department and a final assessment was made at the end of four weeks by using same questionnaire and resulting improvement was shown in results after completion. Results: ANOVA and Post hoc test was used to analyze the study hypothesis. It was observed that combined effect of Antibiotic therapy and Chest Physical Therapy had significant effect on airway clearance, reduced recurrence and improvement in dyspnea, breath sounds, PEFR, reduction in sputum quantity and improvement in SpO2.(P-value < 0.05). Conclusion and Recommendation: These findings suggest that the combination of Chest Physical Therapy along with Antibiotics Therapy is more effective than Chest Physical Therapy or Antibiotics Therapy alone in the Rehabilitation of patients with Bronchiectasis. It is strongly recommended that Chest Physical Therapy should be available in all hospitals.

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