ABSTRACT
Pulmonary rehabilitation has been accepted as a component of the com-
prehensive care of individuals with chronic lung disease since the 1970s (1). However, it was not until the 1990s that its benefits were unequivo-
cally demonstrated by randomized, controlled trials (2). Documented
gains from this intervention include reductions in exertional dyspnea
and dyspnea associated with daily activities, increased exercise tolerance,
and improvements in health-related quality of life (2). Other evidence sug-
gests that this intervention may reduce medical resource utilization (3,4).
The usefulness of pulmonary rehabilitation is underscored by the fact that
it was chosen as the gold standard of medical care with which to compare surgical therapy in a recent multicenter trial of lung volume reduction
surgery for emphysema (5). This chapter first provides a brief review of
pulmonary rehabilitation then discusses randomized clinical trials evaluat-
ing its effectiveness in reducing the predominant symptom of advanced
lung disease-dyspnea.
