Effect of home-based prehabilitation in an enhanced recovery after surgery program for patients undergoing colorectal cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Surgery remains the first curative treatment for colorectal cancer. Prehabilitation seems to attenuate the loss of lean mass in the early postoperative period. However, its long-term role has not been studied. Lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic has forced to carry out the prehabilitation program at home. This study aimed to assess the effect of home prehabilitation on body composition, complications, and hospital stay in patients undergoing oncological colorectal surgery.

Methods: A prospective and randomized clinical study was conducted in 20 patients operated of colorectal cancer during COVID-19 lockdown (13 March to 21 June 2020) in a single university clinical hospital. Patients were randomized into two study groups (10 per group): prehabilitation vs standard care. Changes in lean mass and fat mass at 45 and 90 days after surgery were measured using multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis.

Results: Prehabilitation managed to reduce hospital stay (4.8 vs 7.2 days, p = 0.052) and postoperative complications (20% vs 50%, p = 0.16). Forty-five days after surgery, the loss of lean mass decreased (1.7% vs 7.1%, p = 0.17). These differences in lean mass were attenuated at 90 days; however, the standard care group increased considerably their fat mass compared to the prehabilitation group (+ 8.72% vs - 8.16%).

Conclusions: Home prehabilitation has proven its effectiveness, achieving an attenuation of lean mass loss in the early postoperative period and a lower gain in fat mass in the late postoperative period. In addition, it has managed to reduce hospital stays and postoperative complications.

Registration Number: This article is part of an ongoing, randomized, and controlled clinical trial approved by the ethics committee of our hospital and registered in ClinicalTrials.gov in August 2018 with registration number NCT03618329.