Cancer Prehabilitation Programs and Their Effects on Quality of Life

Psychological Interventions Prior to Cancer Surgery: a Review of Reviews

“…Over one third (40%, n = 8) of the reviews included prehabilitation for multiple cancer types, and the remainder focussed on a specific cancer type: lung (20%, n = 4) [ 35 , 46 , 48 , 49 ], colorectal (15%, n = 3) [ 36 , 38 , 39 ], gastrointestinal (10%, n = 2) [ 37 , 53 ], abdominal (10%, n = 2) [ 42 , 44 ], and laryngeal (5%, n = 1) [ 43 ] cancers. Prehabilitation interventions were primarily reported in the context of cancer surgery alone (85%, n = 17) [ 26 , 35 – 39 , 41 ••, 42 – 44 , 46 – 51 , 53 ], with the remaining reviews including prehabilitation prior to neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy with surgery [ 40 , 45 , 52 ••].…”

“…Over half (56%, n = 13) of reviews reported multi-modal interventions with various combinations of exercise, nutritional, and psychological components [ 35 – 38 , 41 ••, 42 , 44 , 48 – 53 ]. Three (15%) reviews reported psychological interventions only [ 26 , 40 , 43 ], and four (20%) reviews reported psychological and/or HRQoL outcomes following exercise and/or nutrition-based prehabilitation interventions, without a stand-alone psychological component [ 39 , 45 – 47 ].…”

“…Very few reviews reported the psychological intervention component in detail [ 26 , 40 , 41 ••, 52 ••]; this was particularly evident for multi-modal interventions. Psychological interventions were categorized using the Framework for Categorising Psychosocial Intervention Components (Table S1 ) [ 54 ].…”

“…Multimodal approaches to prehabilitation were reported in 13 reviews. Interventions comprised exercise and psychological approaches ( n = 7) [ 41 ••, 48 – 53 ] and exercise, nutrition, and psychological approaches ( n = 6) [ 35 – 38 , 42 , 44 ]. Descriptions of the psychological component of multimodal prehabilitation interventions were often poorly, or not at all, reported.…”

Prehabilitation for medically frail patients undergoing surgery for epithelial ovarian cancer: a cost-effectiveness analysis

“…Optimizing the highest-risk patients is therefore not only in the patient's best interest, but in the interest of the healthcare system. Prehabilitation programs aim to improve patient functional status during the pre-operative period in order to decrease complications and enhance outcomes [ 17 ] by incorporating components of aerobic exercise, resistance training, nutritional supplementation, and mental health counseling ( Table 2 ) [ 18 19 ]. Common components include protein supplementation, medical optimization of co-morbid conditions, aerobic and resistance exercises, pulmonary therapy, and stress and anxiety management.…”