Exercise Study in Brain and CNS Cancer

Summary

With a trend for increased survival in patients with Brain and Central Nervous System (CNS) cancers, emphasis is increasingly shifting to improving the quality of life of survivors. Performance status (a quantification tool used in patients with cancer to assess their quality of life and ability to carry out activities of daily living) is a key prognostic factor in Brain and CNS cancers and a good performance status is used in determining whether a patient is offered adjuvant treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy following primary surgical treatment. The performance status of a patient is defined by physical and cognitive functioning, and the beneficial effect of aerobic exercise in improving physical functioning (e.g., cardiorespiratory fitness) is well established. Thus, it is anticipated that implementing a supervised moderate intensity aerobic exercise training programme will improve the performance status of patients. An implication of this work is that, exercise regimens could be offered as additional treatment, alongside chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which might increase the chance of survival.

The project design is a randomised controlled trial with two arms in which one group of patients will undergo an aerobic exercise program starting one week before surgery and continuing for three weeks in the post-operative period. Patients enrolled in this trial will continue with standard treatment including neuro-rehabilitation. The control group of patients will be given written instructions on performing flexibility and stretching exercises in addition to their usual care (including neuro-rehabilitation). The primary outcome is performance status as defined by measurements of physical functioning and cognitive ability (e.g., memory, attention, information processing speed). Physical functioning will be assessed by a timed walking test, hand-grip dynamometry and a maximum jump height test. Other measures of well-being will be assessed; including heath related quality of life using the European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy- Brain (FACT-Br) questionnaires. Secondary outcome measures will be measurements of mood, fatigue and certain biochemical parameters, such as C-reactive protein (CRP), plasma viscosity (PV), full blood count (FBC), uric acid, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3). It is anticipated that a total of 30 patients will be recruited split between the two groups and each participant will not spend more than four weeks in taking part in the study.

Conditions

• Cancer of Brain and Nervous System

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Exercise (either aerobic or flexibility)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Bath

  collaborator OTHER

• Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust

  lead OTHER_GOV

Principal Investigators

• James E Turner, PhD · University of Bath

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2016-11-30

Primary Completion

2018-07-31

Completion

2018-08-31

Countries

• United Kingdom

Study Locations