Grant: Project Grant

Cardiovascular events, such as heart attack and stroke, are common after major noncardiac surgery despite advances in surgical techniques. This is due to the fact that older and frail patients are having surgery. The risk of having a heart attack or dying after surgery is even higher in patients with previous cardiac conditions. To date, no intervention has been studied to help lower the risk of surgery in this patient population. We know that patients with poor nutrition status and low exercise tolerance do badly after surgery. In the last years, a personalized 4-week program has been developed to offer to these patients while awaiting surgery, to improve their nutrition status and exercise fitness. This program is called: Multimodal prehabilitation program. It includes a personalized exercise program, nutritional assessment and support, and psychological support. Our study wishes to determine whether this multimodal prehabilitation program decreases the risk of cardiac complications after surgery in patients with a history of cardiac disease. But first, we need to determine whether it is feasible to recruit cardiac patients in this program and whether it is safe to undergo the exercise training in this program. This is why we wish to perform this feasibility study.