No abstract

No abstract

BackgroundExercise started shortly after breast cancer diagnosis might prevent or diminish fatigue complaints. The Physical Activity during Cancer Treatment (PACT) study was designed to primarily examine the effects of an 18-week exercise intervention, offered in the daily clinical practice setting and starting within 6 weeks after diagnosis, on preventing an increase in fatigue.MethodsThis multi-centre controlled trial randomly assigned 204 breast cancer patients to usual care (n = 102) or supervised aerobic and resistance exercise (n = 102). By design, all patients received chemotherapy between baseline and 18 weeks. Fatigue (i.e., primary outcome at 18 weeks), quality of life, anxiety, depression, and physical fitness were measured at 18 and 36 weeks.ResultsIntention-to-treat mixed linear model analyses showed that physical fatigue increased significantly less during cancer treatment in the intervention group compared to control (mean between-group differences at 18 weeks: −1.3; 95 % CI −2.5 to −0.1; effect size −0.30). Results for general fatigue were comparable but did not reach statistical significance (-1.0, 95%CI -2.1; 0.1; effect size -0.23). At 18 weeks, submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness and several muscle strength tests (leg extension and flexion) were significantly higher in the intervention group compared to control, whereas peak oxygen uptake did not differ between groups. At 36 weeks these differences were no longer statistically significant. Quality of life outcomes favoured the exercise group but were not significantly different between groups.ConclusionsA supervised 18-week exercise programme offered early in routine care during adjuvant breast cancer treatment showed positive effects on physical fatigue, submaximal cardiorespiratory fitness, and muscle strength. Exercise early during treatment of breast cancer can be recommended. At 36 weeks, these effects were no longer statistically significant. This might have been caused by the control participants’ high physical activity levels during follow-up.Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN43801571, Dutch Trial Register NTR2138. Trial registered on December 9th, 2009.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0362-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No abstract

The Physical Activity During Cancer Treatment trial shows that an 18-wk supervised exercise program in colon cancer patients during chemotherapy is safe and feasible. The intervention significantly reduced physical fatigue at 18 wk and general fatigue at 36 wk. Considering the number of patients included in the present study, replication in a larger study population is required.

LEARNING OBJECTIVESAfter completing this course, the reader will be able to:1. Describe the safety of using bevacizumab in clinical practice.2. Explain the benefit of adding bevacizumab to chemotherapy in colorectal cancer.3. Discuss mechanisms of targeting the VEGF/VEGFR pathway.Access and take the CME test online and receive 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™ at CME.TheOncologist.com CME CME Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article. ABSTRACT

clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00459771.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00732914, www.clinicaltrials.gov.