Pre-operative Risk Assessment Combined With Targeted Intervention in the Chinese Elderly With Spine Surgery II (PRACTICE-2)

April 26, 2026 updated by: Xuanwu Hospital, Beijing

Multimodal Physiological Reserve Optimizing Prehabilitation Program (PHYSIO-Prehab) in the Chinese Elderly With Spine Surgery

This multicenter, parallel-group, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial will enroll 248 adults aged ≥75 years with degenerative lumbar spinal diseases scheduled for elective lumbar fusion surgery, and they will be randomized 1:1 into the intervention and usual care groups. The intervention group will receive a 6-week PHYSIO-Prehab multimodal prehabilitation program, including multicomponent exercise, nutritional intervention, comorbidity optimization, and cognitive prehabilitation with brain protection strategies. The control group will receive standard health education provided via a manual, and both groups will receive consistent perioperative Enhanced Recovery After Surgery care. The primary outcome will be the change in Barthel Index (a tool for assessing independence in activities of daily living) from baseline to 30 days postoperatively; secondary outcomes will include pain scores, disability, patient satisfaction, and the 30-day postoperative Comprehensive Complication Index. The trial will initiate recruitment in April 2026 and conclude in December 2027, aiming to evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of PHYSIO-Prehab and provide high-quality evidence for patient-centered perioperative care pathways in this population.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Degenerative lumbar spinal diseases are a leading cause of pain, disability, and reduced quality of life among older adults. As the global population ages rapidly, the volume of elderly patients undergoing elective lumbar fusion surgery will rise significantly. However, this cohort will face elevated risks of postoperative complications and delayed recovery of independence in activities of daily living, due to age-related decline in physiological reserve and multiple comorbidities. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery programs have shown value in reducing complications and accelerating recovery, but most focus on intraoperative and postoperative care, lacking targeted preoperative interventions for older adults with frailty or impaired physical function. Prehabilitation, a proactive preoperative strategy to enhance functional capacity and resilience to surgical stress, holds potential for improving postoperative outcomes, yet high-quality randomized trials in lumbar spinal surgery remain scarce. The PRACTICE-2 trial will address this evidence gap by evaluating a tailored multimodal prehabilitation program (PHYSIO-Prehab) for this specific population.

This multicenter, parallel-group, assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial will enroll 248 adults aged ≥75 years with degenerative lumbar spinal diseases who are scheduled for elective lumbar fusion surgery. Eligible patients will be randomized at a 1:1 ratio into the intervention group and the usual care group via stratified block randomization, with stratification by frailty status (frail vs. prefrail/non-frail) and participating center to balance key prognostic factors. The intervention group will receive a 6-week PHYSIO-Prehab program, consisting of 3 biweekly supervised group sessions (90 minutes each, including 60 minutes of lectures and 30 minutes of group discussion), plus home-based multicomponent exercise (resistance, balance, aerobic, and stretching training; 3 non-consecutive full sessions per week, with low-intensity walking on other days, adjusted based on the Borg 10-point scale). Additional interventions will include nutritional optimization (based on Mini Nutritional Assessment scores), comorbidity management (targeting anemia, hypertension, and diabetes), and cognitive prehabilitation with brain protection measures. The control group will receive standard health education provided via a manual, and both groups will receive consistent perioperative Enhanced Recovery After Surgery care as implemented by the participating hospitals.

The primary efficacy outcome will be the change in Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living (0-20 points, with higher scores indicating better independence in basic daily activities such as feeding, dressing, and mobility) from baseline to 30 days postoperatively. Secondary efficacy outcomes will include the proportion of patients achieving full independence in activities of daily living (Barthel Index of Activities of Daily Living = 20) at 30 days postoperatively, Numeric Rating Scale scores for back and leg pain, Oswestry Disability Index, and patient satisfaction assessed via the 4-point North American Spine Society scale. The primary safety outcome will be the occurrence of severe or multiple complications, defined as a Comprehensive Complication Index greater than 20 within 30 days postoperatively. Secondary safety outcomes will include primary and total hospital length of stay, non-home discharge, and unplanned readmissions within 30 days postoperatively. The trial will initiate recruitment in April 2026, conclude in December 2027, and use R software for statistical analysis under a modified intention-to-treat principle, aiming to provide high-quality evidence for optimizing patient-centered perioperative care pathways for older adults undergoing lumbar fusion surgery.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

248

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • China
      • Beijing, China
        • Recruiting
        • Peking University First Hospital
        • Contact:
          • Yao Zhao
      • Beijing, China
        • Recruiting
        • Beijing Friendship Hospital of Capital Medical University
        • Contact:
      • Beijing, China
        • Recruiting
        • Department of Orthopedics, the Seventh Mecical Center of PLA General Hospital
        • Contact:
          • Yang Zhao
    • Beijing Municipality
      • Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China, 10053
        • Recruiting
        • Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Aged ≥75 years at the time of screening
  2. Voluntarily sign the informed consent form
  3. Clinically diagnosed with degenerative lumbar spinal disorders with duration of symptoms >6 months
  4. Requiring elective lumbar fusion surgery (single-level or multi-level, open or minimally invasive approach)
  5. No severe cognitive impairment (Mini-Mental State Examination score > 9)
  6. Scheduled to undergo surgery within 6-8 weeks after screening (allowing completion of the 6-week prehabilitation program)

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Scheduled to undergo other emergency surgery or day surgery
  2. Urgent medical conditions requiring priority management before spinal surgery
  3. With spinal disorders other than degenerative diseases (spinal fracture, tumor, metastasis, infection, ankylosing spondylitis, scoliosis with Cobb angle >40°)
  4. With contraindications to prehabilitation exercise (New York Heart Association Class IV heart failure, unstable angina, uncontrolled hypertension [systolic BP ≥180 mmHg or diastolic BP ≥110 mmHg despite medication])
  5. With severe functional disability for other disorders or long-term bedridden status unable to perform basic physical activities
  6. With allergy or intolerance to nutritional supplements used in the prehabilitation program
  7. Participating in another clinical trial involving prehabilitation, perioperative intervention, or spinal surgery within 3 months before screening

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: PHYSIO-Prehab group

The intervention group will receive a 6-week PHYSIO-Prehab multimodal prehabilitation program care. It includes 3 biweekly supervised group sessions and home-based multicomponent exercise. Additional interventions cover nutritional optimization, comorbidity management (targeting anemia, hypertension, and diabetes), and cognitive prehabilitation with brain protection measures.

Both groups will receive consistent perioperative ERAS care implemented by the orthopedic department since January 2019, including multimodal and preemptive analgesia, inspiratory muscle training, minimal intravenous fluid administration, early urinary tube removal, avoidance of mechanical bowel preparation, no prolonged fasting, and antithrombotic prophylaxis
Other: Multimodal physiological reserve optimizing prehabilitation program
The PHYSIO-Prehab program features targeted multimodality integration, addressing the unmet need for surgery-specific preoperative interventions in elderly lumbar fusion patients. Its innovations lie in three aspects: first, it combines supervised group sessions with home-based exercise, balancing professional guidance and practical feasibility, and adjusts intensity via the Borg 10-point scale to fit individual tolerance. Second, it goes beyond conventional prehabilitation by integrating nutritional optimization, comorbidity management and cognitive prehabilitation, targeting physiological reserve deficits and frailty-related risks. Third, it is tailored to lumbar spinal disease characteristics, optimizing exercise modalities to avoid lumbar burden, which overcomes the limitations of general frailty interventions and enhances relevance to surgical recovery needs.
Active Comparator: Usual care group
Participants in the group will receive standard care per the enhanced recovery protocol for lumbar fusion in older adults, including pre-admission health education on smoking/excessive drinking cessation, optimization of severe comorbidities, and general nutritional education.
Other: Usual Care
Both groups will receive consistent perioperative ERAS care implemented by the orthopedic department since January 2019, including multimodal and preemptive analgesia, inspiratory muscle training, minimal intravenous fluid administration, early urinary tube removal, avoidance of mechanical bowel preparation, no prolonged fasting, and antithrombotic prophylaxis.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Barthel ADL Index from baseline to 30 days postoperatively
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Primary efficacy outcome
Within 30 days after surgery
30-day postoperative Comprehensive Complication Index
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
The proportion of participants with a Comprehensive Complication Index > 20
Within 30 days after surgery

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
30-day Barthel ADL Index postoperatively
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Within 30 days after surgery
30-day postoperative Comprehensive Complication Index
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Within 30 days after surgery
Length of hospital stay
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Primary and total length of hospital stay
Within 30 days after surgery
NRS for back and leg pain on day 30 after surgery
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Within 30 days after surgery
North American Spine Society scale of satisfaction on day 30 after surgery
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Within 30 days after surgery
Oswestry Disability Index on day 30 after surgery
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Within 30 days after surgery
30-day non-home discharge postoperatively
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Within 30 days after surgery
30-day unplanned readdmission postoperatively
Time Frame: Within 30 days after surgery
Within 30 days after surgery

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Xuanwu Hospital, Beijing

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 15, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 2, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 2, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

February 9, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 28, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 26, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Xuanwu_PRACTICE-2

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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