BACKGROUND: Postoperative rehabilitation programs consisting of exercise training are considered effective for unselected lung cancer patients. However, whether postoperative exercise is beneficial to lung cancer patients comorbid with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease remains unknown. METHODS: Eighty-four patients diagnosed with both lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were randomized into the exercise group and control group. Both groups were given standard postoperative rehabilitation for 1 week. After that, oxygen therapy (if needed) and nebulization were given to the control group, while patients in the exercise group started to participate in exercise programs on the basis of receiving oxygen therapy and nebulization as in the control group. The exercise programs consisted of 24 training sessions. RESULTS: In both groups, the functional status and the results of the pulmonary function test decreased from baseline to the endpoint. However, after surgery and the intervention program, both the maximal oxygen consumption in the cardiopulmonary exercise test and walking distance in the 6-minute walk test in the exercise group were significantly better than those in the control group (15.5 (+/- 1.4) mL/kg/min versus 13.1 (+/- 1.3) mL/kg/min, p = 0.016; 437.4 (+/- 48.6) m versus 381.7 (+/- 40.5) m, p = 0.040). Force vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in the first second in the exercise group were better than those in the control group, but the differences were not statistically significant (1798.1 (+/- 298.9) mL versus 1664.0 (+/- 329.7) mL, p = 0.254; 1155.7 (+/- 174.3) mL versus 967.4 (+/- 219.4) mL, p = 0.497). The decline in the standard score of the QLQ-C30 (V3.0) was smaller in the exercise group, but the difference did not meet a statistically significant level (61.7 (+/- 5.7) versus 58.4 (+/- 9.3), p = 0.318). CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that a short-term postoperative exercise training program can facilitate the recovery of functional capacity in lung cancer patients with comorbidities of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

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