Individualized prehabilitation program improves functional capacity in pancreaticoduodenectomy patients

This single-center historical cohort study evaluated an individualized short-term prehabilitation program in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). The intervention group included 63 patients who received a minimum two-week program involving physical exercise, nutritional optimization, and psychological support, compared to a historical control cohort of patients who underwent PD without prehabilitation between July 2023 and September 2024. The primary outcome was perioperative complications, with secondary outcomes including length of hospital stay, readmission rates, mortality, inflammatory markers, and functional capacity.

For the main result, the 6-min walk distance (6MWD) increased from 505.84 ± 65.95 m to 546.30 ± 56.49 m, with an effect size of 40.46 m and a p-value < 0.05. Other outcomes such as perioperative complications, length of hospital stay, readmission rates, mortality, and inflammatory markers were not reported in the results. Safety and tolerability data, including adverse events, serious adverse events, and discontinuations, were also not reported.

Key limitations include the use of a historical control cohort, which may introduce bias and confounders, and the lack of reported follow-up duration, funding, or conflicts of interest. The study did not provide practice relevance or causality notes. Given the observational design and these limitations, the findings should be viewed as preliminary and require validation in randomized controlled trials before clinical application.