Short-term multimodal prehabilitation improves functional capacity for colorectal cancer patients prior to surgery

Evaluate feasibility and outcomes of a multimodal prehabiliation program in patients with stage I-III colorectal cancer (CRC) awaiting surgery.

Patients scheduled for elective CRC resection at Concord Repatriation General Hospital were recruited from pre-admission clinic between January and November 2018. Participants received a 2-4 week prehabilitation program consisting of supervised exercise sessions, nurse-led phone support, and written nutritional information. Participants were assessed at baseline, pre-surgery, and 4 weeks post-surgery.

Twenty-two patients participated in the program: 55% male; median age 73 (56-86) years. Six (28%) required an interpreter. At baseline, 19 of 22 (86%) had at least one comorbidity. Median intervention length was 11.5 days (range 7-29). Participants attended 79% of scheduled exercise sessions (range 33-100%, mean 3.5 sessions) and 66% of nurse support calls (range 0-100%, mean 2.6 sessions). Between baseline and pre-surgery, participants reported increasing mean unsupervised moderate-intensity aerobic exercise from 17 (range 0-210) to 73 minutes/week (range 0-276) and mean vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise from 0 to 24 minutes/week (range 0-300). Resistance exercise sessions increased from 0.6 to 2.6 times/week. Mean 6-minute walk test distance increased by 48 meters (435-483 m) and 30-second "sit to stand" by 1.6 repetitions. Small improvements were seen in global quality of life and fatigue. Nutritional status and body composition remained unchanged. All participants were satisfied/strongly satisfied with the program and would recommend it to others.

Our multimodal prehabilitation program was feasible in CRC patients inclusive of those from non-English speaking backgrounds, with improvement in functional capacity before CRC surgery.