If you're facing colon cancer surgery, you might wonder if getting stronger beforehand can help you bounce back faster. A new review looked at home-based 'prehabilitation' programs—these combine exercise, nutrition, and mental health support to prepare patients for surgery. The main finding is clear: these programs did help people walk farther in a six-minute test right before their operation. That's a good sign for being physically ready for the stress of surgery. However, that boost in fitness didn't stick around. When checked 4-6 weeks and 8 weeks after surgery, patients who did prehab weren't walking significantly farther than those who didn't. The programs also didn't make a measurable difference in several important recovery areas. They didn't lower the rate of complications within 30 days of surgery, reduce trips to the emergency room, or cut down on hospital readmissions. Patients' anxiety and depression scores, measured 8 weeks after surgery, weren't significantly improved either. The review concludes that while getting fitter at home before surgery works, the benefits fade afterward. The authors suggest that to keep those gains, programs might need to be more intense, last longer, or continue after the operation.
Can home workouts before colon cancer surgery help? They boost fitness before the operation, but not after.
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What this means for you:
Home prehab improves fitness before colon cancer surgery, but patients lose those gains after the operation. What this means for you:
Home prehab improves fitness before colon cancer surgery, but patients lose those gains after the operation. View Original Abstract ↓
BACKGROUND: Multimodal rehabilitation programs represented comprehensive preoperative intervention strategies designed to optimize patients' physical, nutritional, and psychological status. These programs have shown potential benefits in enhancing recovery, improving quality of life, and optimizing functional outcomes across various clinical contexts.
OBJECTIVE: This review aimed to evaluate the feasibility and clinical effectiveness of home-based multimodal prehabilitation for patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery.
METHODS: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted using RevMan 5.4. The primary outcome was the change in the 6-min walk test (6MWT) during the preoperative period. Secondary outcomes included 30-day postoperative complications, emergency department visits, hospital readmission, and mental health outcomes measured using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).
RESULTS: Prehabilitation significantly improved the preoperative 6MWT [MD = 40.61, 95% CI (6.23, 74.99), P = 0.02]. However, no significant improvement was observed at 4-6 weeks [MD = 49.67, 95% CI (-35.50, 134.84), P = 0.25] or 8 weeks postoperatively [MD = 26.58, 95% CI (-8.88, 62.04), P = 0.14]. Prehabilitation did not significantly affect total hospitalization, 30-day postoperative complications, emergency department visits, or readmission rates. Additionally, no significant improvements were found in HADS-anxiety or HADS-depression scores at 8 weeks.
CONCLUSIONS: Home-based multimodal prehabilitation significantly improved physical function before colorectal cancer surgery; however, these benefits were not sustained postoperatively. More intensive or prolonged programs, combined with postoperative rehabilitation, may be necessary to maintain preoperative gains. Larger trials with extended follow-up periods are needed to confirm long-term clinical effects.
TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023439715).