Challenges in rehabilitation : some old dilemmas revisited with some solutions ?

printing supported by . Visit Chiesi at Stand D.30 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH 2011 Results: Only 28 of the 72 patients accepted the offer of the home exercise DVD. A further 8 patients admitted to never using the DVD at T3. No significant difference in T3-T2 ISW change was seen between users and non-users (-10m vs. -15m; p=0.60) nor in T3-T2 CRDQ-SR change (-5.5 vs. -3.0; p=0.85). Conclusion: There was poor patient uptake of the DVD. A home exercise DVD does not appear to help maintain the benefits of PR. References: [1] Kings College NHS Trust (2005), Breathing for Life Exercise Video. Realta Productions, London. P3644 Maintenance of long term benefits from an outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation programme in COPD Francesco Costa, Laura Malagrinò, Sandra Antonelli, Claudia De Simone, Giovanna Decusatis, Dario Nieri, Sabrina Santerini, Barbara Vagaggini, Pierluigi Paggiaro. Cardiothoracic and Vascular, University, Pisa, Italy We evaluated the long term manteinance of benefits of a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programme (PRP) in COPD patients and to establish which patients require frequent repetitions of PRP. Fifty-one COPD patients (FEV1: 57±17%) underwent 10 weeks outpatient PRP comprehensive of supervised exercise training on cycloergometer and upper limb training. Pre-PRP (T0), post-PRP (T1), 6 months (T2) and 9 months (T3) after the end of PRP we measured: exercise tolerance by 6 minute walking test (6MWT), dyspnoea by MRC, quality of life by St George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ). All outcomes improved at T1. 6MWT and MRC progressively worsened at T2 and T3 respectively, whereas SGRQ remanained stable up to 9 months from PRP.