Prehabilitation Exercise in Colon Rectal Cancer

Background. Prehabilitation exercise in patients with Colon Rectal Cancer (CRCS) surgery is a new approach that aims to improve patient’s physical and psychological capacity in order to reduce postoperative morbidity and improve treatment outcomes. Materials and methods. To develop this narrative review, searches were conducted on Medline/PubMed for studies relevant to answering two research questions, the primary one being: A) to investigate the literature to verify whether sarcopenia negatively affects the postoperative course in patients with CRC. The secondary objective was B) to verify whether there are studies describing consensus exercises in prehabilitation designed to prevent and combat sarcopenia in patients with CRC. We used MeSH Terms (Medical Subject Headings) to structure the research and scan the literature. Results. In relation to the research questions, we can highlight how sarcopenia can have a negative impact not only on the post-operative outcomes of patients with colorectal cancer undergoing surgery but also on recurrence-free survival. Furthermore, patients with sarcopenia seem prone to experiencing toxic effects during chemotherapy. The trials analyzed include objectives and exercises within prehabilitation exercise, but there are no consensus protocols aimed at reducing sarcopenia. Conclusions. Sarcopenia negatively affects the CRC progression process. Multimodal prehabilitation protocols aimed, among other things, at counteracting sarcopenia in CRC should be included to reduce postoperative morbidity and improve surgical outcomes and patient quality of life. There is no consensus in the literature on prehabilitation protocols.