For the study, 20 cancer patients scheduled for major abdominal operations, including surgical removal of part of the liver and removal of colorectal, gastric and pancreatic tumors, were given wrist-worn activity trackers. The trackers monitored their physical activity for three to seven days before their operation, as well as during hospitalization and for two weeks after discharge.
Approximately 88 percent of patients wore the activity tracker preoperatively and 82 percent wore the tracker after surgery. The activity monitored prior to the surgery provided researchers with a baseline of normal activity for each patient. Researchers also found that the number of steps taken on the seventh day of postoperative recovery strongly correlated to postoperative complications: less steps equals more complications.
“With our monitoring system, even before the first postoperative follow-up appointment, we have information about the patients’ recovery,” said the study’s presenting author, Sinziana Dumitra, MD, a surgical oncology fellow at City of Hope in Duarte, Calif. “We could use that information to call them and say, ‘You need to walk more,’ or to set them up with physical therapy.”
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