Key result
Aerobic training during radiotherapy increases 6MWD by ~24 meters vs control in breast cancer patients.
Why the study?
Despite dose constraints in radiation therapy, cardiac and pulmonary side effects occur, and the impact of aerobic training on exercise tolerance during radiotherapy in breast cancer patients needed evaluation.
Does aerobic training improve exercise tolerance in breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy?
RCT (n=46)
Randomly assigned
No
Does aerobic training improve exercise tolerance in breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy?
Absolute Event Rate: 23.95% vs -9.4%
p-value: p=0.000
Aerobic training during radiotherapy improves exercise tolerance and reduces dyspnea in women with breast cancer.
May support aerobic training to preserve exercise capacity during radiotherapy; hypothesis-generating and requires RCT confirmation.
AIM OF THE STUDY: In spite of the introduction of dose constraints based on patient individual assessment techniques for radiation therapy (RT), some side effects from the heart and lungs are observed. Regular physical exercises improve efficiency, which was confirmed in clinical trials. The aim of this study was to evaluate endurance exercise tolerance and the impact of aerobic training (AT) on selected clinical parameters in breast cancer patients during RT. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This study involved 46 women with breast cancer who were irradiated using conformal technique (3DCRT) to a total dose of 50 Gray during a 5-week course of RT. In this period 25 patients (group A) simultaneously performed AT, and the rest of the patients, without rehabilitation (group B), undertook irregular physical activity on their own. The exercise tolerance was assessed through the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) using: oxygen saturation (SO2), heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) and dyspnea scale. RESULTS: After AT in group A, a statistically significant (p < 0.05) decrease was observed in average diastolic BP before 6MWT and in HR parameters before and after 6MWT (p > 0.05), and 6MWD was increased (p < 0.05). In group B, after RT, an increase (p < 0.05) in HR was observed after the test as well as dyspnea. Oxygen saturation in both groups was not significantly changed. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study showed that regular AT after just 6 weeks caused an improvement in exercise tolerance parameters with a substantial decline in dyspnea in breast cancer patients receiving RT.
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Milecki et al. (2013) conducted an RCT in Breast cancer (n=46). Aerobic training vs. Irregular physical activity on their own was evaluated on Change in 6-minute walk distance (6MWD) after 6 weeks of radiotherapy (p=0.000). A 6-week moderate-intensity aerobic training program during radiotherapy significantly increased 6-minute walk distance by 23.95 meters in breast cancer patients, compared to a 9.40 meter decrease in the control group.
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