Efficacy of Cardio-Oncology Rehabilitation Exercise for Women With Breast Cancer and Treatment Related Cardiotoxicity

Summary

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer among Canadian women with nearly 26,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Fortunately, advancements in diagnostic tools and curative treatments have significantly improved overall survival. However, the development of cardiac toxicity (including asymptomatic and symptomatic heart failure) associated with use of anthracycline containing chemotherapy and targeted therapies including trastuzumab limits improvements in survival for women with breast cancer. Cardiac toxicity is a life threatening complication that leads to reduced physical functioning and quality of life. The increased risk is associated with shared risk factors among cancer and heart failure and the direct influence of cancer therapy on the cardiovascular system. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) (including exercise training and education/counselling) has been shown to improve health outcomes, reduce heart failure related hospitalizations and modestly improve mortality among individuals with non-treatment related heart failure and may benefit women with breast cancer and treatment related cardiac toxicity (BC-CT). Therefore, this single centre, randomized control trial aims to determine if participation in an exercise based CR program can improve cardiorespiratory fitness, cardiovascular function/structure and health, and quality of life among women with BC-CT.

Conditions

• Breast Cancer
• Left Ventricular Dysfunction
• Heart Failure, Systolic

Interventions

OTHER

Exercise Rehabilitation

The intervention will consist of a walking or biking program performed at an intensity of 60-80% of VO2peak, progressing to a minimum of 150 minutes/week. Each session will include a warm up and cool down. One weekly exercise session will be supervised and participants will be expected to complete four additional aerobic training sessions at home or in the community each week. Resistance training will be introduced during the 4th week of the program and will consist of 10 exercises targeting all major muscle groups. One weekly resistance training session will be supervised following the aerobic training, and participants will be expected to complete one to two additional sessions at home or in the community each week. Weekly education sessions will follow the supervised exercise session.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• MSH-UHN AMO Innovation Fund

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University Health Network, Toronto

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Paul Oh, MD,MSc · University Health Network, Toronto

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

FEMALE

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-04-01

Primary Completion

2018-05-01

Completion

2018-05-01

Countries

• Canada

Study Locations