Postoperative outcomes following preoperative inspiratory muscle training in patients undergoing cardiothoracic or upper abdominal surgery: a systematic review and meta analysis.

Objective: To evaluate whether preoperative inspiratory muscle training is effective in preventing postoperative pulmonary complications and reducing length of hospital stay in people undergoing cardiothoracic or upper abdominal surgery.

Data Sources: Medline, CINAHL, AMED, PsychINFO, Scopus, PEDro, and the Cochrane Library.

Review Methods: A systematic review and meta analysis of randomized controlled trials (or quasi-randomized controlled trials) investigating a form of preoperative inspiratory muscle training, compared with sham or no inspiratory muscle training.

Postoperative outcomes following preoperative inspiratory muscle training in patients undergoing open cardiothoracic or upper abdominal surgery: protocol for a systematic review.

Background: In patients undergoing open cardiothoracic and upper abdominal surgery, postoperative pulmonary complications remain an important cause of postoperative morbidity and mortality, impacting upon hospital length of stay and health care resources. Adequate preoperative respiratory muscle strength may help protect against the development of postoperative pulmonary complications and therefore preoperative inspiratory muscle training has been suggested to be of potential value in improving postoperative outcomes.

Methods/design: A systematic search of electronic databases will be undertaken to identify randomized trials of preoperative inspiratory muscle training in patients undergoing elective open cardiothoracic and upper abdominal surgery.