Exercise may help lung cancer patients
Last Updated: 2011-03-10 17:22:14 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Exercise is not harmful and might be helpful for patients with non-small cell lung cancer, Australian researchers report in a review published online February 13th in Lung Cancer.
"These are promising findings for the overall management and care of people diagnosed with lung cancer," PhD candidate Catherine L. Granger told Reuters Health by email.
"We now know exercise is safe before or after treatment and associated with trends of improvement in fitness, symptoms and quality of life. However the way exercise is delivered and the optimum type of exercise for this group of people needs to be established."
Granger of The University of Melbourne and colleagues identified 16 relevant studies involving 675 patients. Most were case series, but 2 were randomized controlled trials.
Studies with preoperative exercise yielded improvements in exercise capacity but no change in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) immediately after the intervention.
Studies post-treatment demonstrated improvements in exercise capacity, but results on HRQoL immediately after the intervention were conflicting.
Overall, only one study (in patients with advanced disease) did not see a significant increase in exercise capacity.
Other researchers, continued Granger, have shown "fitness may be associated with improved survival for people with lung cancer. The question now to be addressed is: can exercise intervention administered after diagnosis improve the quality of life and ultimately perhaps survival compared with usual care in this population?
She and her colleagues, Granger concluded, "are now undertaking research to address some of these questions."
SOURCE:http://bit.ly/hZR3A1
Lung Cancer 2011.
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