Exercise as a part of treatment in cancer : specific focus on the pretreatment and treatment phases

Strong evidence indicates that physical activity and exercise are key interventions for use in the management of patients with cancer. Despite the known benefits of exercise across the entire cancer care continuum, research remains necessary to identify specific exercise prescriptions for the pretreatment and the treatment phases. In the present thesis, we investigated for the pretreatment phase, in two systematic reviews, the current evidence for prehabilitation in patients with cancer. The first demonstrated that a combined aerobic and resistance prehabilitation may benefit patients with various cancer types. The second reported the feasibility, safety and some benefits of prehabilitation in patients with esophagogastric cancer. Then, we reported, in two pilot studies, the feasibility, safety and preliminary effectiveness of prehabilitation with a telerehabilitation system in patients with esophagogastric and colon cancer. For the treatment phase, we emphasized, in a narrative review, that exercise performed by cancer patients during radiotherapy may manage some treatment-related adverse effects. Then, we founded in a randomized controlled trial, that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and resistance training displayed beneficial effects on cancer-related fatigue and functional exercise capacity in prostate cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy as compared to usual care. Finally, the feasibility and safety of HIIT and resistance training were demonstrated in rectal cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.(BIFA - Sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques) -- UCL, 202