Preoperative HIIT in older cancer patients. Version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A randomised control trial to assess efficacy of preoperative high intensity interval training in older patients scheduled for oncological abdominal surgery.
IRAS ID
199141
Contact name
John Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham University
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Increasing numbers of older patients are undergoing major surgery for cancer than ever before. Often major surgical resections in older individuals are performed to remove life threatening cancers. The Department of Health (2011) mandates that operations for cancer should be performed within 31 days of the decision to operate having been made, creating a short period of time in which to optimize our patient’s baseline physical function. Decline in physical function can lead to older patients having more complications from surgery, being declined surgery all together and increased death rates. Individuals’ physical fitness declines with age. People who take part in exercise training programs get fitter and slow the decline in their fitness level as they get older. High intensity interval training has been shown to rapidly improve fitness over a short time period. We want to see whether patients with cancer are able to gain the same benefits as seen in healthy populations, in the short time period from diagnosis to surgery.
The participants will complete up to 4 (16.5 minutes each) exercise sessions each week during this period. The exercise will be performed on a static exercise bike and involves 60 seconds pedaling as hard as possible followed by 90 seconds rest, this is repeated 5 times. Changes in fitness will be assessed by analyzing the gases exhaled during exercise and at a muscle level, by scans and biopsies. Acceptability and feasibility of this intense exercise intervention to the participants will also be assessed.
REC name
East Midlands - Derby Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EM/0075
Date of REC Opinion
22 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion