Current landscape and support for practical initiation of oncological prehabilitation translatable to thyroid cancer: A position paper

Abstract

Despite a growing body of evidence for the effectiveness of prehabilitation, the uptake of prehabilitation in Europe remains low. Contributing factors range from limited awareness and understanding of prehabilitation to a lack of supporting infrastructure and reimbursement challenges. In this position paper, the authors propose a new comprehensive definition of prehabilitation and identify differentiated thyroid cancer as a type of cancer particularly well-suited for prehabilitation. To support clinicians with the implementation of prehabilitation programs in their clinics, the authors discuss the following practical solutions: a) find the most appropriate prehabilitation program for each patient; b) raise awareness among peers; c) develop evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of prehabilitation; d) expand the interdisciplinary team; e) expand your network and make use of existing assets; f) utilize learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords

• Oncological prehabilitation
• Differentiated thyroid cancer