The effects of prehabilitation versus usual care to reduce postoperative complications in high-risk patients with colorectal cancer or dysplasia scheduled for elective colorectal resection: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

Table 3 Schedule of enrolment, interventions, and assessments

STUDY PERIOD	Enrolment	Allocation	Post-allocation					Follow-up
			Pre-prehabilitation	Prehabilitation			Post-prehabilitation
TIMEPOINT	-t₁	0		Week 1	Week 2	Week 3		Day 7 post-surgery	Day 30 post-surgery
ENROLMENT:
Eligibility screening	X
VSAQ score (METs)	X
Informed consent	X
Allocation		X
CPET	X
INTERVENTIONS:
Intervention group (prehabilitation program)
Usual care group
ASSESSMENTS:
Baseline characteristics	X
SNAQ score (0-5)	X
VAT on CPET (mL/kg/min)			X				X^a
TUG test (s)			X				X^a
Muscle strength test			X				X^a
IADL			X						X
GDS 15			X						X
EORTC QLQ-C30			X
GFI			X						X
Brief illness perception questionnaire			X				X^a
EQ-5D			X				X^a
Postoperative complications								X	X

^a: Only for patients in the prehabilitation group
Abbreviations: CPET, cardiopulmonary exercise test; EORTC QLQ-C30, quality of life questionnaire of the European organisation for research and treatment of cancer; EQ-5D, EuroQol 5D; GDS 15, geriatric depression scale 15; GFI, Groningen frailty indicator; IADL, instrumental activities of daily living; MET, metabolic equivalent of task; SNAQ, short nutritional assessment questionnaire; TUG, timed up-and-go; VAT, ventilatory anaerobic threshold; VSAQ, veterans-specific activity questionnaire

ISSN: 1471-230X