• Adalgiza M Moreno, Renata R T Castro, Pedro P S Sorares, Mauricio Sant' Anna, Sergio L d Cravo, and Antônio C L Nóbrega.
• Post-Graduate Program in Cardiovascular Sciences, Fluminense Federal University, Niteroi, RJ, Brazil.
• J Cardiothorac Surg. 2011 Apr 27; 6: 62.

BackgroundThe treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) seeks to reduce or prevent its complications and decrease morbidity and mortality. For certain subgroups of patients, coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) may accomplish these goals. The objective of this study was to assess the pulmonary function in the CABG postoperative period of patients treated with a physiotherapy protocol.MethodsForty-two volunteers with an average age of 63 ± 2 years were included and separated into three groups: healthy volunteers (n = 09), patients with CAD (n = 9) and patients who underwent CABG (n = 20). Patients from the CABG group received preoperative and postoperative evaluations on days 3, 6, 15 and 30. Patients from the CAD group had evaluations on days 1 and 30 of the study, and the healthy volunteers were evaluated on day 1. Pulmonary function was evaluated by measuring forced vital capacity (FVC), maximum expiratory pressure (MEP) and Maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP).ResultsAfter CABG, there was a significant decrease in pulmonary function (p < 0.05), which was the worst on postoperative day 3 and returned to the preoperative baseline on postoperative day 30.ConclusionPulmonary function decreased after CABG. Pulmonary function was the worst on postoperative day 3 and began to improve on postoperative day 15. Pulmonary function returned to the preoperative baseline on postoperative day 30.

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