An updated systematic review and meta-analysis of unimodal prehabilitation with exercise intervention to enhance postoperative outcomes in cancer surgery

BACKGROUND: The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to update the body of evidence on the efficacy of prehabilitation with exercise interventions, in reducing postoperative complications and length of hospital stay after cancer surgery. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was conducted on MEDLINE, Embase, The Cochrane Library, CINAHL, AMED, and PsycINFO to identify randomized controlled trials investigating the impact of prehabilitation with exercise interventions for patients undergoing cancer surgery. Primary and secondary outcomes assessed were postoperative complications and length of hospital stay, respectively. Risk of bias was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, and Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) methodology was used to determine the strength of evidence. Relative risk and mean difference were calculated using random-effects meta-analysis. RESULTS: In this updated review, 32 trials (n = 2304 participants) were identified, with 5 trials focused on patients undergoing surgery for genitourinary cancer (n = 422 participants), 9 for lower gastrointestinal cancer (n = 639 participants), 6 for upper gastrointestinal cancer (n = 526), and 11 for lung cancer (n = 717 participants). The majority of included trials exhibited some risk of bias. Evidence of low-to-moderate quality indicated that prehabilitation with preoperative exercise significantly reduced postoperative complication rates by approximately 50% and decreased the length of hospital stay by 2.5 days in patients undergoing lung resection. Preoperative exercise did not demonstrate effectiveness in reducing postoperative complications or length of hospital stay for other cancer populations. CONCLUSIONS: Evidence supports the efficacy of prehabilitation with exercise in reducing postoperative complications and length of hospital stay in patients undergoing lung cancer surgery. Further research is warranted to establish the efficacy of unimodal prehabilitation with exercise in genitourinary, lower gastrointestinal, and upper gastrointestinal cancer populations having cancer surgery.