Effect of short-term exercise training on aerobic fitness in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms: a pilot study

Abstract

The small mean benefit was lower than the MCID. However, the marked variability in the individual patient responses revealed that a proportion of patients did benefit clinically, with an estimated NNT of 5.

High-intensity interval exercise training before abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (HIT-AAA): protocol for a randomised controlled feasibility trial

“…However, the available evidence suggests that these concerns are unfounded. For example, no aneurysm ruptures or excessive aneurysm growth rates were reported in any of the three studies of moderate-intensity exercise training in patients with early AAA disease (from >4000 exercise sessions19 20 38), two of which were conducted at our institutions 19 20. Further unpublished data from our institutions indicate no ruptures from >1300 maximal exercise tests in patients with large asymptomatic AAA being considered for elective aneurysm repair.…”

“…We define success with respect to adherence as a lower limit of 0.67 ( c. 2/3 of the population) for the 90% CI for the proportion of the exercise group complying with the intervention. We estimate that ≥85% of the exercise group will be ‘compliers’ based on our pilot studies in patients with small AAA 19 20. A 90% CI for a single proportion around a value of 0.85 is 0.68–0.95, with n=25 patients.…”

“…Two pilot randomised controlled trials (RCTs) undertaken by our research team have documented improvements in cardiopulmonary fitness following moderate-intensity endurance exercise training in patients under surveillance for a small AAA. Kothmann et al 19 reported a 10% increase in the oxygen consumption at the ventilatory threshold (a submaximal marker of cardiopulmonary fitness of prognostic significance) after 6 weeks of moderate-intensity cycling exercise performed for 30 min twice weekly. Tew et al 20 observed a 2.5 mL/kg/min (∼20%) improvement in the ventilatory threshold after 12 weeks of moderate-intensity cycling and treadmill walking exercise performed for 35–45 min thrice weekly.…”

Impact of aerobic exercise capacity and procedure-related factors in lung cancer surgery

“…To date, experimental data indicates that short-term intense physical training induces a cardioprotective phenotype similar to ischaemic preconditioning and enhances oxygen extraction from the skeletal muscle by increasing mitochondrial mass, capillary density and oxidative capacity [42,43]. Preliminary studies in elderly patients with cancer, arterial disease or heart failure confirm the beneficial physiological effects of a short-term supervised training programme, namely an increase in peak V9O 2 (+20%) and in anaerobic threshold (10%), a reduction in plasma inflammatory markers and improvement in cardiac function [44][45][46][47].…”

Patient recruitment and experiences in a randomised trial of supervised exercise training for individuals with abdominal aortic aneurysm

“…2 Unfortunately, there are currently few treatment options available for inhibiting 6 AAA expansion in individuals with small AAA (30 to 49 mm); 2,3 most patients simply enter a 7 surveillance programme to monitor the progression of their aneurysm. Recently, there has been a 8 growing interest in the role of exercise training in reducing AAA progression and increasing 9 fitness for surgery in individuals with small AAA; [4][5][6] however, no previous studies have provided 10 detailed information about the effectiveness of recruitment strategies. Patient recruitment into 11 randomised controlled trials is recognised as one of the most difficult aspects of the study 12 process since it can be costly and time consuming.…”