SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Aging
Sec. Aging and Cancer
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fragi.2025.1665955
Prehabilitation: Preoperative Rehabilitation Interventions for Lung Cancer – A Scoping Review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Fundacao Champalimaud, Lisbon, Portugal
- 2Egas Moniz Center for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Almada, Portugal
- 3Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada
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Background: Individuals undergoing lung cancer surgery often face significant postoperative challenges, underscoring the importance of identifying effective preoperative rehabilitation strategies to support recovery. Aim: To identify rehabilitation interventions that can be implemented during the preoperative period for individuals with lung cancer undergoing thoracic surgery. Design: Scoping review guided by the Arksey and O'Malley methodological framework. Methods: The research question guiding this review was "What rehabilitation interventions should be implemented in the preoperative period for individuals with lung cancer undergoing surgery?" A comprehensive search was performed across five databases: MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, CINAHL, ScienceDirect, and PubMed. The review included studies that addressed rehabilitation interventions before thoracic surgery for individuals with lung cancer. Results: A total of 19 articles met the inclusion criteria. The findings indicate that combining aerobic endurance, resistance, and respiratory training with preoperative education improves outcomes. In addition, nutritional counseling and brief relaxation/emotion-regulation strategies appear to be valuable components of multimodal prehabilitation programs, though evidence is limited. Conclusion: Preoperative rehabilitation interventions have the potential to enhance functional reserve, reduce postoperative complications, and accelerate recovery in individuals undergoing lung resection for lung cancer.
Keywords: lung cancer, Prehabilitation, Preoperative Period, Rehabilitation Nursing, Physioterapy
Received: 25 Jul 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Colaço, Castro, Hall and Fernandes. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Júlio Belo Fernandes, jfernandes@egasmoniz.edu.pt
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