Preoperative physical exercise strategies for patients undergoing major abdominal cancer surgery: a scoping review

Although preoperative physical exercise has been demonstrated to be associated with clinical improvements among abdominal cancer patients, there remains heterogeneity in exercise strategies and uncertainty of what the optimal strategies should be.

This scoping review aimed to review and summarize the existing knowledge about preoperative exercise strategies for abdominal cancer patients.

The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) framework for conducting scoping reviews was adopted to investigate preoperative physical exercise strategies for patients undergoing major abdominal cancer surgery.

A total of 1563 studies were identified and 24 were included in this review. Most of the study populations were colorectal cancer (n = 14). The most common type of exercise was a combination of aerobic and resistance exercises (n = 19). The most common form of aerobic exercise was walking (n = 13) or cycling (n = 12). Most resistance exercises were targeting at major muscle groups (n = 12). Most of the studies were performed at moderate intensity (n = 14) with frequency of 2 ~ 3 times/week (n = 14). The time of a training session was 30 ~ 60 min in half studies (n = 12). The intervention duration for most studies was less than 4 weeks (n = 11). Exercise locations included home (n = 10), facility (n = 7), and a combination of home and facility (n = 5). Phone calls were utilized by nearly half of the home-based exercise studies to supervise the exercise adherence (n = 7).

This review provides a comprehensive summary of preoperative physical exercise strategies. It has the potential to inform clinical practice and future studies.