APA Breakfast & Presentation – Prehab for Major Cancer Surgery

Join us at the annual VIC Branch Winter Breakfast.

Our keynote speaker, Professor Catherine Granger, will be presenting ‘Prehab for Major Cancer Surgery’.

Cancer surgery represents a significant physiological stressor, yet many patients enter the operating theatre deconditioned and unprepared. After surgery, patients commonly experience physical and psychological impairments that range from short-term complications to persistent medium- or long-term effects, significantly impacting function and health-related quality of life.

Prehabilitation, a multimodal intervention combining exercise, nutrition, psychological support, and patient education, offers an evidence-based approach to optimise surgical outcomes and accelerate recovery. Recent evidence demonstrates that both comprehensive prehabilitation programs and targeted interventions such as preoperative exercise training or respiratory education effectively minimise postoperative pulmonary complications and maximise patient outcomes.

This presentation explores the rationale for preoperative interventions in major cancer surgery and their measurable benefits. We will examine practical interventions that physiotherapists and the wider healthcare team can implement across settings – hospitals, community services, primary care and private practices. Interventions range from brief single preoperative physiotherapy sessions to comprehensive multimodal programs spanning weeks before surgery. Prehabilitation principles are applicable across diverse cancer surgery types, including thoracic, abdominal, pelvic, and head and neck procedures.

Ultimately, this presentation aims to equip physiotherapists with the knowledge and confidence to integrate prehabilitation into their practice, ensuring more patients can access these evidence-based interventions.