Abstract: Patients waiting for cardiac surgeries may have a further decline in their body function levels, leading to adverse outcomes after surgery. Preoperative rehabilitation or prehabilitation refers to a surgical nursing intervention adopted before patients are admitted to hospital. It is mainly based on exercise therapy and is currently being carried out abroad and in Taiwan, China. This review summarized three aspects of implementation methods, effect evaluation and expanded application methods of prehabilitation based on exercise therapy in elective cardiac surgery patients, in order to provide theoretical basis for Chinese medical staff to improve the prognosis of patients through prehabilitation.

Key words: Preoperative Rehabilitation; prehabilitation; exercise therapy; cardiac surgery