Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether walking at 4 h after surgery as a more aggressive way to proceed with early mobilization could be a safe approach compared with the patients who walked the day after surgery.
Methods: We encouraged patients who had lobectomy for non-small-cell lung cancer at Kansai Medical University Hospital to walk at 4 h after surgery and start pulmonary rehabilitation between January 2003 and June 2005. A group of 36 patients walked at 4 h after surgery. We retrospectively reviewed the postoperative courses of the patients and compared them with 50 patients who walked the next day during the same period.
Results: No patient had major trouble with chest drainage tube, and no patients fell when walking at 4 h. Amount of drainage, changing rates of the heart load during the walking, and pain scores after walking did not show significant differences in patients walking at 4 h and those walking the next day. Although four patients who walked the next day had an arterial oxygen partial pressure/inspired oxygen concentration ratio of <300 on day 3, none in the patients walking at 4 h had a ratio below this level. Among the patients walking at 4 h, 24 (67%) needed oxygenation for less than 2 days compared with 17 (34%) of the patients walking the next day.
Conclusion: Walking at 4 h after lobectomy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancers is a safe approach to starting pulmonary rehabilitation after surgery.