Prehabilitation for Bladder Cancer

The process of enhancing the functional capacity of an individual before an operation to enable him or her to withstand the stress of surgery has been termed prehabilitation. It has been shown that poor baseline capacity for physical performance and poor nutritional status increase the risk of complications after major non cardiac surgery and prolong recovery. A controlled randomized study in patients undergoing radical cystectomy for cancer is therefore proposed to determine the impact of multimodal prehabilitation on functional exercise capacity and functional recovery. Patients who accept to be enrolled in the study will be randomized to either a group receiving a multimodal intervention which includes nutritional supplementation (Immunocal® whey protein) combined with a physical exercise program and stress reduction strategies before and after surgery, or a control group who will receive standard preoperative treatment as per our institution.