Lung Sounds as Indicators of Severity and Recovery of Lung Disease
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2013-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
This study aims to assess the responsiveness to change of adventitious lung sounds (ALS) in
patients with lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI).
Patients will be recruited from a central Hospital and their demographic and anthropometric
data, lung sounds, lung function, breathlessness, oxygen saturation and chest HRCT scan will
be collected within 24h of the first appointment. Then, patients will be randomly allocated
to either conventional treatment or conventional treatment plus respiratory physiotherapy.
Conventional treatment will consist on daily medical treatment prescribed by the physician.
Respiratory physiotherapy will involve 9 sessions (3 times a week during 2 weeks) of
breathing retraining and chest clearance techniques, exercises for thoracic mobility,
expansion and flexibility, cardiorespiratory exercise training and education about the
disease.
It is expected that ALS will be responsive to changes in patients' lung function after
treatment. It is also expected that, by including a respiratory physiotherapy component in
the treatment of patients with LRTI, they will express more improvements in a shorter period
of time.