Supervised exercise for post-surgery colorectal cancer patients
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A randomised controlled trial to assess the efficacy of a postoperative supervised exercise programme in patients who have undergone elective curative surgery for colorectal cancer.
IRAS ID
281681
Contact name
Jonathon Lund
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 6 days
Research summary
Colorectal cancer incidence increases with age. Surgery is the gold standard treatment for cure in colorectal cancer patients. Patients presenting for surgery therefore carry the increased burden of co-morbidity associated with ageing, which can affect their overall fitness for surgery. Previous studies performed by our group and others have focused on preoperative prehabilitation in order to optimise patients for surgery, which must occur within the 31 day window allowed between decision to treat and surgery accordance with the Department of Health regulations. Conversely, the postoperative focus has been directed towards enhanced recovery; target-driven goals in order to reduce the length of stay and improve the pathway of immediate postoperative recovery. Once patients have been discharged, however, the onus shifts to self-directed recovery, with little to no structured guidance on how to rebuild strength and fitness in order to return to preoperative levels of activity. This lack of a structured recovery programme is a factor in prolonged times to full recovery after surgery for colorectal cancer (ref: Bhalla A, Williams JP, Hurst NG, Speake WJ, Tierney GM, Tou S, Lund JN. One-third of patients fail to return to work 1 year after surgery for colorectal cancer. Tech Coloproctol. 2014 Dec;18(12):1153-9. doi: 10.1007/s10151-014-1232-y. Epub 2014 Nov 8. PMID: 25380740.
.Our study aims to address the lack of intervention in the recovery time between discharge and full recovery, to see if exercise interventions are of benefit in speeding return to full activity to commence when patients self-report an ability to engage after discharge. They will follow a 12 week programme with regular visits for supervised sessions to ensure they are completing them appropriately and to provide guidance/reassurance.
Baseline preoperative, immediate postoperative and end of study fitness assessments will be performed in order to measure the changes, which seek to show an improvement compared to postoperative and baseline measures. Outcomes will be metrics of muscle bulk, cardiovascular fitness and quality of life.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
21/YH/0264
Date of REC Opinion
9 Dec 2021
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion