Effects of pulmonary rehabilitation in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients: a randomized controlled study

Potential Therapeutic Role of Respiratory Muscle Training in Dyspnea Management of Cancer Survivors: A Narrative Review

“…Three randomized controlled trials evaluated the effect of RMT on dyspnea in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation [ 14 , 15 , 58 ]. While two studies demonstrated positive effect of IMT + rehabilitation exercise versus exercise alone on dyspnea reduction [ 14 , 15 ], one study found only a trend towards dyspnea reduction with IMT but did not reach statistically significant difference between the groups [ 58 ]. A possible explanation could be that in the latter study, patients were hospitalized with more severe acute condition, where complementary aerobic exercise was performed at lower volume and intensity [ 58 ].…”

“…Three randomized controlled trials evaluated the effect of RMT on dyspnea in patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation [14,15,58]. While two studies demonstrated positive effect of IMT + rehabilitation exercise versus exercise alone on dyspnea reduction [14,15], one study found only a trend towards dyspnea reduction with IMT but did not reach statistically significant difference between the groups [58].…”

“…This is possibly due to insufficient evidence, and the fact that supervised exercise therapy/pulmonary rehabilitation is not a standard of care for patients with cancer [2]. While preliminary findings of respiratory muscle training (RMT) are encouraging with potential benefits in alleviating dyspnea among cancer survivors [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], the evidence of RMT efficacy for reducing dyspnea is still premature and large randomized controlled trials of RMT in cancer survivors are warranted. Given the preva- lence of dyspnea in cancer survivors, its detrimental effects on physical function and quality of life, its association with poor survival while effective treatments are limited [1,2,6], exploring other potentially effective therapies has important clinical implications for symptoms management in cancer survivorship.…”