Clinical trial · Interventional
Preoperative Exercise for Patients Undergoing Complex Cancer Surgery
Preoperative Exercise to Improve Fitness in Patients Undergoing Complex Surgery for Cancer of the Lung or Oesophagus
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Treatment for people with cancer of the lung or the oesophagus (food-pipe) often involves surgery. This surgery is complex and there is a high risk that patients will develop severe complications afterwards, leading to a longer hospital stay and higher hospital costs, and impacting greatly on recovery and quality of life. If patients' lungs and heart can be optimised before surgery, then recovery may be improved. While fitness can be improved by exercise, the lead-in time to surgery following a cancer diagnosis is often very short, and research is needed to examine what types of exercise might be most effective at increasing fitness over a short period. This project will investigate if high intensity interval training (HIIT) can increase fitness levels in people scheduled for surgery for cancer of the oesophagus or the lungs. HIIT alternates between periods of high intensity exercise, cycling on a stationary bike, followed by a period of more relaxed exercise. This approach is known to improve fitness but has not previously been investigated in patients awaiting complex cancer surgery. Groups will be compared for changes in pre-surgery fitness levels, any complications they may experience after surgery, general physical recovery after surgery and the cost of care after surgery. The investigators anticipate that patients who undergo HIIT before surgery will have less complications and better recovery after surgery, a significantly improved quality of life, and lower costs of care.
Conditions
Conditions (3)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physical Activity | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Postoperative Complications | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Surgery--Complications | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (2)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
| Exercise - HIIT Intervention | Other | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- ACTIVE_COMPARATOR
- label
- Control
- description
- This arm will complete a standard prehabilitation intervention.
- interventionNames
- Other: Control
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- HIIT Intervention
- description
- This group will complete a pre-operative high intensity interval training programme.
- interventionNames
- Other: Exercise - HIIT Intervention
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Change in Cardiorespiratory Fitness
- timeFrame
- At diagnosis (Dx), baseline (T0), immediately post-intervention (T1)
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Patients who are scheduled for either oesophagectomy (2-stage or 3-stage) or major lung resection for the management of primary oesophageal or lung cancer. * Date of surgery ≥ 2 weeks from baseline assessment * Ability to provide written informed consent * Absence of significant co-morbidities, including metastatic disease, which may adversely impact postoperative outcome * Successful completion of a medically supervised cardiopulmonary exercise test * Patients with oesophageal cancer scheduled for multimodal therapy including preoperative chemo(radio)therapy and oesophagectomy will be recruited and tested prior to treatment commencement. Exclusion Criteria: * The American Thoracic Society/American College of Chest Physicians (ATS/ACCP) absolute contraindications for exercise testing will be applied. * Patients undergoing video assisted lobectomy for early lung cancer will be excluded.
References
Publications (1)
- DERIVEDSheill G, Guinan E, O'Neill L, Normand C, Doyle SL, Moore S, Newell J, McDermott G, Ryan R, Reynolds JV, Hussey J. Preoperative exercise to improve fitness in patients undergoing complex surgery for cancer of the lung or oesophagus (PRE-HIIT): protocol for a randomized controlled trial. BMC Cancer. 2020 Apr 15;20(1):321. doi: 10.1186/s12885-020-06795-4. PMID 32293334