PRECISE: Pancreatic Cancer and Exercise

Queen's University Belfast

Status: Completed

Conditions: Pancreas Adenocarcinoma

Treatments: Other: Exercise

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04305067

B19/35

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to establish the feasibility of delivering a prescribed, individualised supervised aerobic and resistance exercise programme during adjuvant therapy, to improve survival and reduce symptom burden in pancreatic cancer

Full description

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is the most common malignancy of the pancreas, representing 90% of all pancreatic neoplasms. The late presentation of symptoms and a lack of effective screening methods, means a large proportion (80-90%) are diagnosed with unresectable advanced disease, contributing to an unfavorable prognosis and dismal 5-year survival rate of ~5%. Intensive cancer treatments (i.e. surgery and chemotherapy) have debilitating complications including fatigue, pain and impaired physical function. Therefore, the maintenance of physical function and quality of life are seen as primary treatment goals for pancreatic patients, particularly during adjuvant therapy. Exercise training is emerging as an accepted component of patient care and evidence suggests regular exercise may induce an array of physiological and psychosocial benefits. However, there is a lack of evidence on the feasibility of delivering supervised exercise interventions to individuals with resectable PDAC undergoing adjuvant therapy. This study aims to explore the initial feasibility of delivering a supervised, individualized, and progressive concurrent exercise intervention to individuals with resectable PDAC who are undergoing adjuvant therapy, and provide data required to design a future randomized controlled trials.

Enrollment: 8 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• age ≥ 18 years
• histologically proven pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma
• complete macroscopic resection (R0 or R1 resection)
• patients recovering from surgery in time for chemotherapy to be delivered with adjuvant intent
• prior malignancy active within the previous 3 years other than locally curable cancers that have been apparently cured, such as basal or squamous cell skin cancer, superficial bladder cancer, or carcinoma in situ of the prostate, cervix, or breast
• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status 0-2
• deemed medically fit by treating team to participate in exercise programme
• able to provide informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Macroscopically remaining tumour (R2 resection or tumour node metastasis (TNM) stage IV disease)
• Pre-existing cardiac conditions; Congestive heart failure or recent serious cardiovascular event
• Chest pain while undertaking physical activity
• Any related co-morbidities (diabetes; unstable angina; degenerative neuromuscular disease; mental health disorders; substance abuse)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Other

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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8 participants in 1 patient group

Supervised aerobic and resistance exercise

Experimental group

Description:

16 weeks of supervised, moderate intensity, aerobic and resistance exercise. Aerobic exercise will be completed supervised, 2 days per week, commencing with a single 10 minute bout and progressing to 30 minutes of continuous aerobic exercise. Resistance exercises will involve whole body activities and commence with 1 set of each exercise (6-12 repetitions) and progress to 3 sets. The resistance exercises will gradually progress in difficulty throughout the program and will utilise daily undulating periodisation

Treatment:

Other: Exercise