Santek N; Department of Rheumatology, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Langer S; Kirac I; Velemir Vrdoljak D; Tometic G; Musteric G; Mayer L; Cigrovski Berkovic M;

Cancers [Cancers (Basel)] 2025 May 26; Vol. 17 (11).
Date of Electronic Publication: 2025 May 26.

Background/Objectives: Colorectal cancer is a significant health problem worldwide. Surgery is the primary curative treatment for most colorectal cancers. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is now performed widely before surgery, and it is the most objective and precise means of evaluating pre-surgical physical fitness. Also, we can use the 6 min walk test to measure cardiorespiratory fitness before surgery.
Methods: We included colorectal patients who were awaiting open abdominal or laparoscopic surgery. After admission to the hospital, patients who signed informed consent forms fulfilled a short questionnaire about health and physical status, preoperative physical activities, and quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). Patients performed a 6 min walk test (6MWT) 2 days before surgery and 7 days after surgery. 6MWT is a tool for measuring the functional status of fitness. Also, they fulfilled the quality of recovery questionnaire (QoR 15) 7 days after surgery.
Results: In a final analysis, we included 72 patients with a mean age of 62.48. We compared the number of steps, walk distance, average and maximal walk speed, and average and maximal heart rate before and after surgery, overall, and by group. Our findings show a statistically significant difference between men and women in the walk distance ( F = 4.99, p = 0.02) The number of steps showed a statistically significant difference according to patients’ ages ( F = 2.90, p = 0.02). Also, we detected differences in the average and maximum heart rate during walking when comparing body mass index (average heart rate F = 5.72, p = 0.00, maximum heart rate F = 2.52, p = 0.04).
Conclusions: Our study provides evidence that average and maximal heart rate during the 6 min walk test was higher in the postoperative period, especially in overweight and obese participants.