Feasibility of Home vs. Hospital Based Resistance Training for Advanced Cancer Patients

Cancer causes 8.2 million deaths each year, with an estimated worldwide cost of $895 billion. Pharmacological treatments provide improvements in expected survival and symptoms, but at cost of a high rate of toxicities and increased time spent by patients away from their homes and families during treatment. This is particularly important for patients with advanced disease as the timeframe at stake relates to their last months of life. Sarcopenia (i.e. loss of muscle mass together with decreased functional capacity) has been widely reported as an important prognostic factor in advanced cancer, with impact on survival, toxicities, response to treatment and other patient-centered outcomes (such as functional capacity, quality of life and fatigue). Sarcopenia is a term first used in 1988 by Rosenberg, meaning an age-related loss in skeletal muscle mass and function. It was derived from the greek: sarx = flesh and penia = loss. In 2010, a European Consensus defined sarcopenia as a triad of muscle mass loss, decreased functional performance and muscle strength. It has been reported as a hallmark of cancer, with impact on prognosis, response to treatments, side effects of chemotherapy and recovery after surgery. The prevalence of sarcopenia in advanced cancer seems to vary according to gender, stage, primary tumor location and treatments, being present in about 28 to 67% of patients. Exercise, in particular resistance training, is one of the most powerful ways of increasing muscle mass and evidence from elderly patients suggests that it is among the most promising interventions for sarcopenia. There is evidence that resistance training can be effective but evidence is still scarce for patients with advanced disease. Historically there have been some concerns regarding safety and efficacy for oncologic patients, and though evidence suggests that resistance training is one of the most preferred forms of exercise by patients, the effectiveness of resistance training alone o