Exercise ups survival in brain cancer patients--study

According to experts, exercise can play an important role in fight against the lethal disease.

The study found apart from helping patients live longer, exercise has the potential to improve how they feel during and after the often-debilitating treatment regimens.

Lead author of the study, Dr Lee W. Jones, associate professor in the Duke Cancer Institute stated, "This provides some initial evidence that we need to look at the effects of exercise interventions, not only to ease symptoms but also to impact progression and survival.”

Details of the study
In a bid to investigate the impact of exercise interventions on the progression of malignancy and mortality, the researchers conducted a study.

They recruited 243 patients at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke diagnosed with advanced recurrent gliomas, a fatal brain tumor that has an average survival rate of less than six months.

Revelations of the study
The researchers found a positive link between exercise and improvements in survival after a cancer diagnosis.

They found that individuals who engaged regularly in a brisk exercise routine, corresponding to a 30 minute vigorous walk five days a week exhibited a significant increase in their life span.

It was noted that active patients lived for an average of almost 22 months while their sedentary counterparts survived for just 13 months.

Jose Cortes, a Duke patient who has been fighting inoperable anaplastic astrocytoma since 2009 stated, "I wanted to be able to exercise because it makes me feel alive again.

"Exercise is a very good way to overcome the side effects of your disease. You can feel more positive about your life even if you are in a terminal state. The most important thing is to just do it at your own pace and do your best."

Implications of the study
According to researchers, though exercise is not a cure for cancer, it can have an overall positive effect on physical and psychological functioning of cancer patients while in treatment.

The study highlights that if doctors are aware of patients' exercise regimens, they will be in a better position to assess long-term outcomes of treatment.

However, experts concede more focused studies are needed to draw specific conclusions on why exercise has a beneficial effect on survival rate following a diagnosis of cancer.

Jones stated, "Discovering these mechanisms could provide new insights into cancer progression. It could also lead to novel studies where exercise is combined with certain cancer therapies to see if both interventions together are more effective at inhibiting cancer recurrence or progression, not just minimising the adverse side-effects of the cancer therapies.”

The findings of the study are published in the 'Journal of Clinical Oncology.'