Piloting Prehabilitation Before Abdominal Surgery

Completed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Frailty

In brief

Frail Veterans are at increased risk for poor surgical outcomes, and as the Veteran population grows older and more frail, there is a critical need to identify effective strategies for reducing surgical risks for these patients. Prior research shows that inter-disciplinary rehabilitation strategies deployed after surgery enhance recovery and improve outcomes by building strength and improving nutrition. We believe that similar improvements may be obtained by using similar interventions before surgery to "prehabilitate" patients' capacity to tolerate the stress of surgery. The proposed research will examine the feasibility of a new, prehabilitation intervention aimed at improving postoperative surgical outcomes through preoperative exercise training and nutritional supplementation. Findings from the study will inform the design of a larger randomized controlled trial of the prehabilitation intervention. If proven effective, prehabilitation could benefit as many as 42,000 frail Veterans who are scheduled for major elective surgery each year.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT03040336

Run by

VA Office of Research and Development

People needed

17

Starts

2017-02-01

Expected to finish

2018-12-28

Last updated by the study team

2020-03-10

Who can join

Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Frail as defined by an Risk Analysis Index (RAI) score >=16
• Scheduled for Major Abdominal Surgery as defined by a procedure that plans to violate the peritoneum or retroperitoneum (excluding inguinal hernias)

You may not qualify if…

• Unable to participate in planned Prehabilitation regimen
• Surgery is cancelled by IMPACT clinic or surgeon due to unacceptable risk
• Left ventricular ejection fractions <35%
• Severe valvular heart disease
• Significant arrhythmia
• Cognitive impairments that necessitate surrogate informed consent for the planned surgery
• Unable to speak English

Where it is running

• VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System University Drive Division, Pittsburgh, PA — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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