On the afternoon of July 14th, the Sino-German Webinar on Pulmonary Rehabilitation was held, jointly organized by Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM and Prof. Koczulla, Chief of Pulmonary Department of Sch?n Klinik Berchtesgadener Land. Zhang Guanghua, Vice President; Peng Jingqin, Deputy Director of Medical Affairs Department; Fan Facai, Director of Department of Pulmonary Disease (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine); Li Yingjie, Deputy Director of Pulmonology Department and Critical Care Department; Lin Haibo, Director of  Rehabilitation Department in Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM and Hu LinNa, M.D. Attending Physician of Department of Pulmonary Disease (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine) of Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM, actively participated in the webinar. Gong Xueyan from Medical Affairs Department acted as the moderator.

Peng Jingqin, Deputy Director of Medical Affairs Department, extended warm welcome and sincere greetings to Prof. Koczulla and all the attendees on behalf of the hospital.

Prof. Koczulla said it was a great honor to discuss Pulmonary Rehabilitation with the attendees via webinar. During the webinar, Prof. Koczulla give a lecture titled Clinical Year-in-Review Rehabs, addressing matters such as the timing and effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation for pulmonary diseases such as long/post- COVID-19 and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Regarding long/post- COVID-19, Prof. Koczulla shared their team's prospective cohort study. This study included 50 patients with mild to severe conditions, who underwent 3 weeks of inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation. The patients' physical performance (6-minute walk distance), lung function (FVC), and quality of life (SF-36), among other indicators, were evaluated before and after the pulmonary rehabilitation.

After 3 weeks of pulmonary rehabilitation, all patients showed improvement in physical performance (6-minute walk distance), lung function (FVC), and quality of life (SF-36). The study results indicate that regardless of the severity of the disease, pulmonary rehabilitation is a feasible, safe, and effective treatment option for COVID-19 patients.

Regarding the question of whether pulmonary rehabilitation should be conducted for adults with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) during hospitalization, the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Pulmonary Rehabilitation Guidelines recommended that patients who are hospitalized due to acute exacerbation of the condition should participate in pulmonary rehabilitation (strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence). This is of significant importance in reducing patients' readmissions and enhancing their physical performance and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The guidelines mentioned that pulmonary rehabilitation is strongly recommended for patients with acute exacerbations, patients with stable COPD, and patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) (strong recommendation, moderate-quality evidence).

Pulmonary rehabilitation is the most effective intervention for improving the quality of life for COPD patients. However, there is a common issue of low participation and compliance among COPD patients. In this regard, home-based rehabilitation serves as a promising solution.

At ATS 2023, a clinical study was conducted to investigate the impact of remote monitoring devices and health guidance on the physiological and emotional quality of life in COPD patients. The study included a total of 375 adult COPD patients, who were randomly assigned to either receive 12 weeks of remote monitoring and health guidance (N=188) or conventional treatment (N=187).

The results of the study showed that patients improved on the Chronic Respiratory Disease Dyspnoea Factor Questionnaire (CRQ), self-management, daily physical activity, sleep and depression scores (p<0.01). Remote monitoring and health guidance were found to promote health and behavioral changes in COPD patients, making them an effective choice for home-based rehabilitation.

However, Professor Koczulla pointed out that studies have shown that tele-rehabilitation requires the additional use of specialized remote monitoring devices, resulting in higher costs compared to expenses in rehabilitation center.

Hu Linna, M.D. Attending Physician of Department of Pulmonary Disease (Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine), later gave a case report on post-tracheotomy  rehabilitation.

At the end of the webinar, Peng Jingqin, Deputy Director of Medical Affairs Department, expressed his gratitude to Prof. Koczulla for his insightful presentation and was glad to learn about the latest advancements in the field of pulmonary rehabilitation form this webinar, which has proven to be very informative for everyone involved. He envisioned more opportunities to talk to Prof. Koczulla on the clinical expertise, research and administrative management in the field of pulmonary rehabilitation. He was also sincerely hoping that he could have the honor to invite Prof. Koczulla to visit Jiangmen Wuyi Hospital of TCM for on-site exchanges and guidance.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Rembert Koczulla

Chief of Pulmonary Department  Sch?n Klinik Berchtesgadener Land

W3 Professor Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Philipps University Marburg

Prof. Koczulla is the first and currently the only Chair of Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Germany.

Clinical/Research Focus

Non-invasive Diagnostics, Rehabilitation, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Intensive Care

Work Experience

ounding of the German Institute for Pulmonary Rehabilitation Research (Since 2018)

Chief of Pulmonary Division Sch?n Klinik Berchtesgadener Land (Since 2017)

W3 Professor Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Philipps University Marburg (Since 2017)

Membership

Member of a BMBF Project Covid/post Covid, Germany (2020)

PACE Study, Bavarian Funding KAIA Machine Learning, several IITs (2019-2020)

DFG Funding Essence 2nd period (2018)

 Patent

1. Alzheimer Diagnostic in exhaled air (2011) EP: 102011011859.4-52

2. LL37 - Inductor of Angiogenesis (EP: 20030004306 20030227), US Patent Application

Publication

Over 130 pubmed/Peer-Reviewed Articles