Preoperative Physical Exercise, Nutritional Support, and Psychological Intervention (Multimodal Prehabilitation) to Strengthen Patients' Overall Health and Reduce Postoperative Complications

In this prospective, randomized, controlled trial patients undergoing major gastrointestinal cancer surgery will be exercised (intervention group) 4 weeks before surgery with a high-intensity interval training (HIIT). They will also receive a specialized nutrition therapy and psychological support (multimodal prehabilitation). Aim of this study is to find out if the prehabilitation group is more resilient to postoperative complications when compared to the control group that will receive standard of care. Another goal is to unravel the underlying mechanisms that are stimulated by exercise like enhancing vascular function, improving immune system response, strengthen cellular tumor defense and optimizing neurological outcome.

NCT Number	NCT07389746
Lead Sponsor	University Hospital of Cologne Collaborators: Charity, University of Berlin, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, University Hospital Tuebingen
Conditions	Cancer Surgery, Prehabilitation
Enrollment	400 participants
Start Date	2026-07-01
Primary Completion	2028-07-01 (estimated)
Study Completion	2029-01-01 (estimated)
Updated on ClinicalTrials.gov	2026-02-13