330 non-smoking patients undergoing elective abdominal surgery were included in a randomised study to investigate the value of routine provision of post-operative chest physiotherapy. All patients were seen pre-operatively by a physiotherapist who provided information concerning the study and written instructions on post-operative physiotherapy. Post-operatively, 158 patients received supervised chest physiotherapy (group A) and 152 patients acted as controls (group B). All patients were assessed for a three-day period post-operatively and measurement of temperature, sputum production and breath sounds recorded. Any patient who developed a post-operative complication, excluding chest infection, was withdrawn from the trial. Any patient who developed a chest infection was noted. The incidence of post-operative pulmonary complications was low (5%) and there was no statistical difference in the incidence of chest infection between group A (3.2%) and group B (7.9%) -- p = 0.07. It is concluded that the value of the routine provision of supervised post-operative chest physiotherapy in non-smoking patients undergoing elective abdominal surgery is of questionable value.

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