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Cardiorespiratory Fitness In Men With Prostate Cancer Following 8 Weeks Of Vigorous Continuous Or Interval Exercise Training Performed During Radiation Therapy

Persons with cancer have been reported to experience significant fatigue due to marked reductions in cardiorespiratory fitness as a result of anticancer therapy. Moderate exercise programs during and after completion of cancer treatment have been suggested to mitigate cancer-related fatigue PURPOSE: This study aimed to characterize cardiorespiratory fitness and physiological changes in fatigue in men with prostate cancer who participated in an exercise training program during External Beam Radiation Therapy (EBRT). METHODS: Subjects were eight men with prostate cancer (age 65.75±8.84 years; BMI 25.31±2.62 kg/m) scheduled to receive EBRT. Subjects completed eight weeks of vigorous supervised exercise [either continuous training (30 minutes at 70-80% of peak heart rate) or high intensity interval training (eight one-minute intervals of 95% peak heart rate)] three times a week during EBRT. Subjects also completed a treadmill cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) to exhaustion before and after eight weeks of EBRT. CPET results were compared before versus after completing the training regimen and EBRT. RESULTS: Pre (28.2±5.07 ml/kg/min) and post (28.7±6.08 ml/kg/min) peak oxygen consumption (VO2) were not significantly different. Conversely, a significant increase in time to anaerobic threshold (AT) before (409.5±66.97 sec) and after (448.16±72.70 sec) exercise training was observed (p = 0.049). There were no significant changes in VO2 at AT or time to exhaustion after exercise training. CONCLUSION: While the construct of fatigue is complex and multidimensional, AT provides an objective measure of endurance that is not influenced by perception or motivation. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) recommends moderate exercise programs during and after completion of cancer treatment to reduce cancer-related fatigue. In this study, vigorous exercise training performed during EBRT, maintained cardiorespiratory fitness and increased the time to AT in these men undergoing prostate cancer therapy. Funding: This study is fully supported by the Division of Intramural Research of the National Institute of Nursing Research and the Clinical Center, Rehabilitation Medicine Department of the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.