[One year follow-up of pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with pulmonary emphysema--physiological outcome].

To evaluate the long-term effects of pulmonary rehabilitation on physiological outcome, 12 patients with pulmonary emphysema were enrolled in an inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program for 6 weeks. After discharge from the hospital, they were followed up for 1 year. The pulmonary rehabilitation program consisted of breathing retraining, thoracic mobilization, exercise training, and patient education. Although the subjects did not participate in outpatient maintenance group sessions after their discharge, they continued breathing retraining and exercise training at home. Their vital capacity improved significantly, and was sustained over the course of the year; other pulmonary functions, however, did not change significantly. Maximum exercise load increased 31% after the rehabilitation program; although it was 18% higher than baseline at follow-up one year later, that was not a significant change. The follow-up data on exercise traming had generally deteriorated 1 year after the rehabilitation program. The change in maximum exercise load from baseline before and after the inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation program correlated closely with the change in maximum exercise load thereafter to follow-up one year later (R = 0.62). We conclude that it is pessible to estimate long-term change in exercise capacity on the basis of short-term changes achieved during inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation. It may be necessary to develop maintenance programs of some kind to help pulmonary emphysema patients retain the benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation over the longer term.