Participants were included on the day of admission, which was the day prior to surgery. Randomization to the two groups (1:1) was done when patients returned from the intensive care unit (ICU) to the ward. This procedure was chosen in order to avoid perioperative drop-outs due to inoperable tumors. With a power of 80% and a level of significance of 0.05, 18 patients were needed in each group.Comparisons between the groups were analyzed with non-parametric tests; the Mann Whitney U test and Chi 2 test.