Effects of external diaphragm pacing combined with airway clearance on pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with tracheotomy after stroke

Objective To probe into the effect of external diaphragm pacing combined with airway clearance on pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with tracheotomy after stroke. Methods Forty patients who underwent tracheotomy after stroke in Department of Rehabilitation of Clinical Medical College, Yangzhou University from January 2017 to September 2018 were collected. And they were randomly divided into observation group and control group, with 20 cases in each group. Routine rehabilitation was performed in both groups, including physical rehabilitation and respiratory rehabilitation. Patients in observation group were treated by external diaphragm pacing technique based on the above treatment. After 30 days of treatment, pulmonary infection rate, tracheal tube extubation rate, pulmonary ventilation function and respiratory muscle strength were compared between the two groups. Results After treatment, the incidence of pulmonary infection in observation group was lower than that in control group, and the tracheal tube extubation rate was higher than that in control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). After treatment, forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume in 1 second and peak expiratory flow of the two groups were improved in comparison with these indexes before treatment, and those indexes in group observation had greater improvement than those in control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). After treatment, maximal inspiratory pressure and maximal expiratory pressure of the two groups were significantly improved compared with those before treatment, and the improvement of observation group was better than those of control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusions External diaphragm pacing combined with airway clearance technology is conductive to reducing lung infection and improvement in lung ventilation by enhancing the muscle strength of the diaphragm and coughing ability. Key words: Stroke; Tracheotomy; External diaphragm pacing; Pulmonary rehabilitation