In an article recently published in the journal Cancers, researchers from ciTechCare and the University of Coimbra investigated the effect of perioperative (i.e., pre- and/or post-surgery) exercise on quality of life of people with lung cancer and colorectal cancer after surgical resection. This publication is part of Pedro Machado’s doctoral work.

 

Lung cancer and colorectal cancer are the deadliest tumours worldwide and two of the most incident tumours. Surgery is a potentially curative intervention for these patients; however, it has short- and long-term impact on patients’ quality of life, with most patients experiencing physical limitations and increased fatigue symptoms.

 

The main conclusions of this article are:

1) Exercise has been shown to improve physical function and reduce fatigue symptoms after surgery in lung cancer patients;

2) Despite the heterogeneity of interventions, programmes that include high-intensity interval training combined with strength exercise are the ones that show the most consistent beneficial results;

3) This beneficial impact on quality of life after lung cancer surgery justifies the implementation of exercise programs in the perioperative period for these patients.

2) There were no significant effects of exercise on quality of life after colorectal cancer surgery; however, these conclusions may be due to the fact that there are still a small number of studies.