Prehabilitation bundle can reduce incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications

Elective major colorectal surgery is still associated with postoperative morbidity and mortality. Preoperative optimization can potentially reduce postoperative pulmonary complications, which significantly prolong recovery and increase the risk of mortality. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the prehabilitation bundle on postoperative pulmonary complications.

All patients undergoing elective colorectal procedure for benign or malignant diagnosis before and after the introduction of the prehabilitation bundle were enrolled in the study. Prehabilitation was focused on nutritional support, regular aerobic and muscle strength exercise, preoperative optimization of anaemia, improvement of oral hygiene including regular chlorhexidine mouth wash, psychological support, restriction of smoking and alcohol consumption. In addition to the general characteristics, compliance with individual measures, incidence of pulmonary complications and length of stay were monitored.

A total of 596 patients were included in the study (226 before and 370 after the implementation of the package). After the introduction of prehabilitation, the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications decreased significantly - 29 (13%) vs. 17 (4.6%), RR: 0.21-0.67), p=0.001 and shorter length of stay was observed à 9.7 (±8.8) to 7.7 (±5.5) days (p=0.0005). Except for optimization of anaemia, compliance with the individual components of the established bundle was very good.

Introduction of a prehabilitation bundle focused on improvement of cardiorespiratory capacity, optimization of diet and oral hygiene, can reduce the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications and shorten the length of stay.