Advances in diagnostic techniques and access to greater treatment options allowing personalised medicine have resulted in survival improvements for people with lung cancer. Given the high burden experienced by those with lung cancer greater attention to the quality of survival is required.
Delivered between diagnosis and the commencement of medical treatments, prehabilitation commonly involves multi-disciplinary care aimed at enhancing recovery and reducing post-operative complications following surgery. Rehabilitation, delivered during and following treatments, is defined by the World Health Organisation as ‘a set of interventions designed to optimize functioning and reduce disability in individuals with health conditions in interaction with their environment’.
This presentation will summarise the current literature, including findings from a recent overview of systematic reviews, regarding multi-disciplinary lung cancer pre- and rehabilitation. Exercise interventions studied to date are heterogeneous with respect to exercise type (e.g., aerobic, inspiratory muscle training), principles of prescription (e.g., high intensity interval training versus moderate-intensity continuous training) and program timing. A growing body of evidence, largely in the surgical population with non-small cell lung cancer, supports the use of exercise for people with lung cancer to improve both patient and health system outcomes. Despite positive findings, access to services remains a barrier to translation into clinical practice. Current and future models of care delivery, within Australia and internationally, directions for future research and strategies to embed pre- and rehabilitation into clinical practice will be presented.