Journal: Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism
Extended Submission Deadline: March 31, 2025
Prehabilitation has become a very promising strategy for reducing severe complications in high-risk patients who will undergo major surgery. Focusing on nutrition and metabolism, prehabilitation includes a trimodal combination of nutrition, endurance and resistance training, and some psychological intervention for 2-6 weeks. In cancer patients, neoadjuvant therapy opens a regular time window for conditioning before surgery. Although there have been several randomized trials and meta-analyses on this topic, evidence is still limited – mainly due to considerable heterogeneity. An umbrella review found moderate evidence for functionally relevant improvement like the 6-Min Walking Distance Test. However, the evidence supporting reductions in complications, non-home discharge, and length of hospital stay were of only low to very low certainty.
According to a very recent meta-analysis, more benefits may be expected with special regard to frail and high-risk patients. Regarding the impact of prehabilitation on metabolism and immune system, data is still sparse. There is no data for fortified nutrition or enriched nutritional supplements for a longer preoperative period. Functional improvement without impact on surgical outcome also opens a debate about necessity and resources for implementation.
The goal of this article collection in Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism is to highlight recent advances and evidence concerning prehabilitation for different types of surgery and how to select appropriate patients. A special focus of “Prehabilitation” will be on nutritional interventions and metabolic mechanisms of prehabilitation.
In this special call we welcome original research, review articles, systematic reviews, and perspectives in the field of prehabilitation.
Please select the option “Call for Papers: Prehabilitation: Nutritional Interventions and Metabolic Mechanisms” when submitting your manuscript and mention this Call for Papers in your cover letter.
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