Prehabilitation to improve lung cancer outcomes 2: putting it into practice
- Roberts, Josie
- Shepherd, Paula
This article has been double-blind peer reviewed
In this article…
Exploring prehabilitation for patients with inoperable lung cancer
Patient engagement considerations
What to take into account when planning and delivering a prehabilitation service
Key points
Epidemiological studies suggest comorbidities and poor health are correlates of poorer survival in patients with cancer
A structured prehabilitation programme can help patients manage their symptoms and improve their fitness for treatment
Introducing prehabilitation for late-stage lung cancer before systemic treatment could increase access to treatment, as well as improving patients' health outcomes and quality of life
Prehabilitation should be tailored to the individual and empower patients to take an active role in improving their own wellbeing
Abstract
Prehabilitation helps patients who have cancer to prepare for treatment through physical and mental health training to improve health outcomes and quality of life. In the first part of this two-part series, we looked at the principles and benefits of individualised prehabilitation before cancer treatment and the case for establishing this for non-operable cancers, using the example of advanced lung cancer. In this article, we discuss how prehabilitation for late-stage lung cancer could be integrated into lung cancer services.