Impact of prehabilitation on morbidity and mortality after pulmonary lobectomy by minimally invasive surgery: a cohort study

Background: Thoracic surgery is currently the optimal treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, it may be responsible for numerous postoperative complications and is often used in patients with multi co morbidities. In recent years, the optimization of a patient’s physical capacity before surgery has been the subject of several studies. The objective of this study was to determine whether participation in a prehabilitation program would improve outcomes after surgery and lower morbidity according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was performed between 1st January 2014 and 31st January 2016 at Rouen University Hospital. All adult patients with NSCLC (IIIa or Results: The cohort included 38 patients. Two groups were formed: one group with prehabilitation (n=19) and one group without prehabilitation (n=19). Four patients were not included leaving 34 patients for the final analysis. Most patients with a Clavien-Dindo grade of ≤2 had received prehabilitation compared to patients who had not received prehabilitation, respectively 17/19 vs . 8/15; P=0.0252. Patients who had received prehabilitation had fewer postoperative complications than patients who had not received prehabilitation, respectively 8/19 vs . 12/15; P=0.0382. Conclusions: We have shown that prehabilitation has a positive impact on the occurrence and severity of postoperative complications after pulmonary lobectomy by minimally invasive surgery. Further studies conducted in larger populations are warranted to confirm these results.