Multimodal Prehabilitation for Lung Cancer Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The study was conducted to determine whether a multimodal prehabilitation program enhances postoperative functional recovery compared with multimodal rehabilitation.

Patients scheduled for non-small cell lung cancer resection were randomized to 2 groups receiving home-based moderate-intensity exercise, nutritional counseling with whey protein supplementation, and anxiety-reducing strategies for 4 weeks before the operation (PREHAB, n = 52) or 8 weeks after (REHAB, n = 43). Functional capacity (FC) was measured by the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) at baseline, immediately before the operation, and 4 and 8 weeks after operation. All patients were treated according to enhanced recovery pathway guidelines.

There was no difference in FC at any point during the perioperative period between the 2 multimodal programs. By 8 weeks after operation, both groups returned to baseline FC, and a similar proportion of patients (>75%) in both groups had recovered to their baseline.

In patients undergoing surgical resection for lung cancer within the context of an enhanced recovery pathway, multimodal prehabilitation initiated 4 weeks before operation is as effective in recovering FC as multimodal rehabilitation.