Effect of prehabilitation program on abdominal surgery patients

Editor's Note

Colectomy patients participating in a preoperative prehabilitation program had positive physiologic effects and experienced fewer complications, this study finds.

The prehabilitation program−Michigan Surgical and Health Optimization Program (MSHOP)−engages patients in four activities before surgery: Physical activity, pulmonary rehabilitation, nutritional optimization, and stress reduction. For the study, patients were divided into four groups: MSHOP (40 patients), emergency (40), and elective, non-MSHOP (76).

At 1 hour intraoperatively, MSHOP patients had improved systolic and diastolic blood pressures and lower heart rates. Also, there was a significant reduction in Clavien-Dindo class 3 to 4 complications in the MSHOP group (30%), compared with the non-MSHOP (38%) and emergency (48%) groups. This translated to average hospital charges of $75, 494 for the MSHOP group, $97,440 for the non-MSHOP group, and $166,085 for the emergency group.

The average savings of $21,946 per patient represents a significant cost offset for a prehabilitation program and should be considered for all surgical patients, the researchers say.