Strength Training Following Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Abstract

Background-Patients receiving high-dose chemotherapy and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) experience considerable reductions in physical activity and deterioration of their health status.

Efficacy of exercise training in SCT patients-who benefits most?

“…7 Since this review, six new randomized controlled trials have been published, supporting these findings; some studies showed strong effects for body composition as well as weaker but promising effects for cardiorespiratory fitness, fatigue, muscle strength, physical functioning and quality of life. [8][9][10][11][12][13] Nevertheless, many questions remain unanswered regarding exercise interventions in HCT patients. Additional evidence is required to determine the optimal exercise recommendation, with respect to amount, type, intensity and time point for intervention.…”

Physical Exercise for Patients Undergoing Allogeneic Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

“…Most of these studies used the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire [11,12,16,17,21], while one study used the Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System [19], and another used the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form [23]. Some studies revealed significantly higher QOL scores for the allogeneic intervention group than those for the allogeneic control group [11,12,17,19].…”

“…The onset timing of physical exercise intervention for allo-HSCT patients varies, and can occur in 1 of 3 phases: conditioning (before HSCT) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17], post engraftment (after HSCT) [18,19], or hospital discharge phase [20][21][22][23][24]. Recently, physical exercise intervention has reportedly been increasingly initiated during the conditioning phase (chemotherapy and radiation therapy regimen).…”

“…Several studies have examined the effects of physical exercise on the QOL of patients undergoing allo-HSCT [11,12,16,17,19,21,23]. Most of these studies used the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire [11,12,16,17,21], while one study used the Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System [19], and another used the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form [23].…”

“…Physical exercise intervention is usually fully [11,[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] or partially supervised [12] in patients undergoing allo-HSCT. Interestingly, Shelton et al [22] reported higher endurance and gait speeds in supervised training groups than that in patient-directed training groups.…”