Prehabilitation in head and neck Oncology

Introduction Prehabilitation describes the process of conditioning patients before surgery and it is usually multimodal and multidisciplinary. After an objective patient assessment prehabilitation might involve nutritional supplementation, physiotherapy, and intensive treatment of underlying conditions such as anemia or nicotine dependency. The goal is an improvement in perioperative morbidity and mortality.

Methods Data presented is based on current literature available through PubMed as of January 2024.

Results Prehabilitation has been shown to significantly reduce serious perioperative complications and mortality. It stabilizes body composition and improves patient reported quality of life. Additionally, resistance exercise has been shown to affect T-Cell subpopulations, decreasing senescent and exhausted subtypes.

Conclusion Prehabilitation has great potential to improve oncological outcomes more than any single drug or modality of surgery has. It has a proven track record in adjacent fields and should be considered in head and neck oncology and ENT.

Funding information Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
19. April 2024