Abstract:
Objective To investigate the impact of continuous nebulization therapy after lung transplantation on pulmonary function and related complications in lung transplant recipients.
Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the general data of 71 recipients who underwent allogeneic lung transplantation at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, from June 2013 to December 2024. Recipients were divided into observation group (those who continued nebulization therapy for more than 3 months after discharge) and control group (those who discontinued nebulization therapy on their own). The main observation indicators were pulmonary function indicators at 6 months after surgery, including forced expiratory volume in the first second as a percentage of predicted value (FEV1% pred), forced vital capacity as a percentage of predicted value (FVC% pred), ratio of forced expiratory volume in the first second to forced vital capacity as a percentage of predicted value (FEV1/FVC% pred), forced expiratory flow at 25%, 50% and 75% of forced vital capacity as a percentage of predicted value, and the percentage of predicted value of corrected carbon monoxide diffusion capacity measured by single-breath method, as well as the ratio of corrected carbon monoxide diffusion capacity to alveolar volume as a percentage of predicted value. Additionally, the annual incidence of postoperative pulmonary infections, survival rate and the rate of no severe airway complications were analyzed.
Results At 6 months after lung transplantation, the FEV1% pred and FVC% pred of the observation group were better than those of the control group FEV1% pred was 76% (60%, 91%) vs. 67% (62%, 78%), FVC% pred was (75 ± 13)% vs. (69 ± 11)%, both P<0.05. The observation group had a lower annual incidence of pulmonary infections compared to the control group (P = 0.023), with a risk of 0.485 times that of the control group. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in median survival time and the rate of no severe airway complications (both P>0.05).
Conclusions Continuous nebulization therapy after lung transplantation may effectively improve pulmonary function, reduce the annual incidence of pulmonary infections, and play a positive role in the long-term maintenance of pulmonary function.