Case Report of Exercise to Attenuate Side Effects of Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer

Treatments for pancreatic cancer can have debilitating side effects including fatigue, weight loss, and cardiac toxicity, resulting in functional loss and psychological distress. Exercise has been proposed as a therapy to counteract physical and psychological detriments. The case: A 47-year-old male...

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Main Authors: Marie McLaughlin, Alan Christie, Anna Campbell
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Karger Publishers 2019-11-01
Series:Case Reports in Oncology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/503815
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spelling doaj-3a34325fb0734dffa523e2e3a9a4d68e2020-11-24T22:05:44ZengKarger PublishersCase Reports in Oncology1662-65752019-11-0112384585410.1159/000503815503815Case Report of Exercise to Attenuate Side Effects of Treatment for Pancreatic CancerMarie McLaughlinAlan ChristieAnna CampbellTreatments for pancreatic cancer can have debilitating side effects including fatigue, weight loss, and cardiac toxicity, resulting in functional loss and psychological distress. Exercise has been proposed as a therapy to counteract physical and psychological detriments. The case: A 47-year-old male undergoing chemotherapy for stage 3 locally advanced pancreatic cancer. He was cycling during hospital chemotherapy infusions (6 fortnightly cycles of FOLFIRINOX: 5-FU 2, 400 mg/m2, over 48 h: irinotecan 180 mg/m2, oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2, no 5-FU bolus) plus 12 weeks of twice weekly aerobic and resistance exercise. Over 12 weeks, body composition was maintained, and physical function improved, with specific increases in muscular strength of up to 50% and aerobic capacity improving by 9%. Moreover, quality of life, fatigue, psychological distress, and sleep quality improved by 38, 113, 50, and 9%, respectively. Additionally, the participant experienced more severe side effects in week 6, when he did not cycle to a high intensity during hospital infusion and had less total weekly exercise. After cycle 6 (week 11), chemotherapy was halted, and a Whipple resection procedure was successfully performed. It can be concluded that regular aerobic and resistance exercise plus exercise during infusion can attenuate expected decline in physical and mental health with pancreatic cancer treatment and may reduce treatment side effects and have favourable effects on prognosis.https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/503815pancreatic cancerexercisechemotherapycase report
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Marie McLaughlin
Alan Christie
Anna Campbell
spellingShingle Marie McLaughlin
Alan Christie
Anna Campbell
Case Report of Exercise to Attenuate Side Effects of Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
Case Reports in Oncology
pancreatic cancer
exercise
chemotherapy
case report
author_facet Marie McLaughlin
Alan Christie
Anna Campbell
author_sort Marie McLaughlin
title Case Report of Exercise to Attenuate Side Effects of Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
title_short Case Report of Exercise to Attenuate Side Effects of Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
title_full Case Report of Exercise to Attenuate Side Effects of Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
title_fullStr Case Report of Exercise to Attenuate Side Effects of Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
title_full_unstemmed Case Report of Exercise to Attenuate Side Effects of Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer
title_sort case report of exercise to attenuate side effects of treatment for pancreatic cancer
publisher Karger Publishers
series Case Reports in Oncology
issn 1662-6575
publishDate 2019-11-01
description Treatments for pancreatic cancer can have debilitating side effects including fatigue, weight loss, and cardiac toxicity, resulting in functional loss and psychological distress. Exercise has been proposed as a therapy to counteract physical and psychological detriments. The case: A 47-year-old male undergoing chemotherapy for stage 3 locally advanced pancreatic cancer. He was cycling during hospital chemotherapy infusions (6 fortnightly cycles of FOLFIRINOX: 5-FU 2, 400 mg/m2, over 48 h: irinotecan 180 mg/m2, oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2, no 5-FU bolus) plus 12 weeks of twice weekly aerobic and resistance exercise. Over 12 weeks, body composition was maintained, and physical function improved, with specific increases in muscular strength of up to 50% and aerobic capacity improving by 9%. Moreover, quality of life, fatigue, psychological distress, and sleep quality improved by 38, 113, 50, and 9%, respectively. Additionally, the participant experienced more severe side effects in week 6, when he did not cycle to a high intensity during hospital infusion and had less total weekly exercise. After cycle 6 (week 11), chemotherapy was halted, and a Whipple resection procedure was successfully performed. It can be concluded that regular aerobic and resistance exercise plus exercise during infusion can attenuate expected decline in physical and mental health with pancreatic cancer treatment and may reduce treatment side effects and have favourable effects on prognosis.
topic pancreatic cancer
exercise
chemotherapy
case report
url https://www.karger.com/Article/FullText/503815
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