Feasibility and safety of exercise training and nutritional support prior to haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in
- PDF / 751,966 Bytes
- 9 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 48 Downloads / 190 Views
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Feasibility and safety of exercise training and nutritional support prior to haematopoietic stem cell transplantation in patients with haematologic malignancies Erik Rupnik1* , Matevz Skerget1, Matjaz Sever1,2, Irena Preloznik Zupan1,2, Maja Ogrinec3, Barbara Ursic3, Natasa Kos3, Peter Cernelc1,2 and Samo Zver1,2
Abstract Background: Prehabilitation with regular exercise and nutritional care for patients undergoing surgeries for malignant disease was recently introduced to increase physiologic reserve prior to the procedure, accelerate recovery and improve outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the feasibility and safety of combined exercise training and nutritional support in patients with haematologic malignancies prior to haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Methods: In this single-arm pilot study, 34 HSCT candidates were enrolled at least two weeks before admission for the procedure. Patients performed aerobic exercises at least 4 days per week for 20–30 min and strength exercises 3 days per week for 10–20 min. They received daily supplements of whey protein (0.3–0.4 g/kg body weight) and oral nutritional supplements if needed. The primary endpoints were feasibility (acceptability > 75%, attrition < 20%, adherence > 66%) and safety. The secondary endpoints were fat-free mass (FFM), muscle strength, physical performance and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) at HSCT. Results: The rate of acceptability, attrition and adherence to aerobic exercise, strength exercise and protein supplement consumption was 82.4, 17.8, 71, 78 and 80%, respectively. No severe adverse events were reported. Twenty-eight patients participated in the study for a median of 6.0 weeks (range, 2–14). They performed aerobic exercises 4.5 days per week for 132 min per week and strength exercises 3.0 times per week. Patients consumed 20.7 g of extra protein daily. At the end of the programme, we recorded increases of 1.1 kg in FFM (p = 0.011), 50 m in walking distance in the 6-min walking test (6MWT) (p < 0.001), 3.3 repetitions in the 30-s chair-stand test (30sCST) score (p < 0.001) and 2.6 kg in handgrip strength (p = 0.006). The EORTC QLQ-C30 scores improved by 8.6 (p < 0.006) for global health status, 8.3 (p = 0.009) for emotional functioning, and 12.1 (p = 0.014) for social functioning. There was less fatigue, nausea and insomnia (p < 0.05). (Continued on next page)
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Hematology, University Medical Centre Ljubljana, Zaloska cesta 7, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party mater
