Nutritional Prehabilitation and Lung Resection

Malnutrition and inflammatory status are becoming relevant factors for lung cancer patients because they negatively influence all postoperative, mid-term, and long-term outcomes. Routine evaluation of these parameters is not implemented in most lung cancer patients especially when surgery is indicated up front. Although not extensive, the current available literature shows the impact of nutritional and inflammatory abnormalities on acute complications such as mortality and length of stay, but also demonstrates their relationship to overall survival, disease free survival, and quality of life. Two recent randomized controlled trials focused on the effect of nutritional prehabilitation on postoperative outcomes. One interesting finding from the studies is that patients in both groups experienced a significant decrease of all measured nutritional parameters in the postoperative period. However, those in the intervention groups maintained these parameters better. The total rate of complications was significantly lower in intervention groups. The lower duration of chest drainage and the drainage quantity reflected that enriched nutrition preparation leads to a more prompt recovery reducing the probability of developing complications after surgery.