OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is twofold:firstly,to investigate the effect of glucocortico-steroids alone and in combination with antibiotics in patients with advanced lung cancer and interstitial pneumonia;secondly,to explore the effect of a'stepwise pulmonary rehabilitation exercise programme'in preventing the recur-rence of interstitial pneumonia.METHODS A total of 68 patients with advanced lung cancer and interstitial pneu-monia were included in the study.A total of 35 patients were treated with a combination of antibiotics and glucocorti-costeroids,while 33 patients received glucocorticosteroids as a monotherapy.All patients were enrolled in a pulmona-ry rehabilitation exercise programme.RESULTS The 35 cases in the antibiotic-combined glucocorticosteroid group exhibited efficacy in 32 cases(91.4%).The 33 cases in the glucocorticosteroids group demonstrated efficacy in 31 cases(93.9%).No significant difference was observed in the efficacy of the two groups(P>0.05).A total of 58 cases with effective pneumonia treatment participated in the rehabilitation exercise programme.Of these,two(5%)of the 40 cases that underwent rehabilitation training experienced a relapse,while seven(38.8%)of the 18 cases that did not undergo rehabilitation training relapsed.A significant difference was observed in the recurrence rate of pneumonia between the two groups(P<0.05).CONCLUSION It can be concluded that the standard treatment for interstitial pneumonia is glucocorticoids,and that the combination of antibiotics does not result in an improved outcome.The stepped pulmonary rehabilitation exercise programme is an effective method of preventing the recur-rence of interstitial pneumonia.