Clinical trial · Interventional
Exercise to Improve Outcomes in Pancreatic Cancer
Exercise-Based Pre-, Peri- and Post-Surgery Intervention to Improve Clinical and Translational Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Whipple's Procedure: A Feasibility Study.
- 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)
Pancreatic cancer surgery (Whipple's procedure) is a major operation that can lead to reduced physical fitness, delayed recovery, and difficulty starting chemotherapy after surgery. Exercise before and after surgery may help improve recovery, but it is not known whether a personalised exercise programme delivered throughout the surgical pathway is practical or acceptable for patients. The Exercise to Improve Outcomes in Pancreatic Cancer (ExO-PanC) study is a single-arm feasibility study that will recruit adults with suspected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who are scheduled to undergo Whipple's procedure. Participants will receive an individualised exercise programme before surgery, during their hospital stay, and after discharge until the start of adjuvant chemotherapy. The programme will include aerobic exercise and resistance training prescribed according to each participant's fitness level. The primary objective is to determine whether this exercise programme is feasible by assessing recruitment, participant adherence, compliance with the prescribed exercise programme, and retention. Secondary exploratory objectives include evaluating surgical complications, initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy, physical fitness, quality of life, nutritional status, and blood, stool, and tumour biomarkers associated with clinical outcomes. Findings from this feasibility study will inform the design of a future multicentre randomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of the ExO-PanC programme.
Conditions
Conditions (2)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deconditioning | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Pancreas Adenocarcinoma (MSI-H) | Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma | ALIAS | 0.85 |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| ExO-PanC Personalised Exercise Programme | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (1)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Intervention group
- description
- Participants will receive the ExO-PanC personalised exercise programme in addition to standard perioperative care. The intervention comprises four phases spanning the surgical pathway: prehabilitation before surgery, supervised inpatient exercise following surgery, structured home-based recovery after hospital discharge, and rehabilitation before commencement of adjuvant chemotherapy. Exercise is individually prescribed using cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), muscle strength, and functional assessments, and includes aerobic and resistance with progression tailored to each participant's physical capacity. Participants also undergo repeated assessments of physical fitness, quality of life, nutritional status, and collection of blood, stool, and tumour tissue samples throughout the study.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: ExO-PanC Personalised Exercise Programme
Primary outcomes (1)
- measure
- Feasibility of the ExO-PanC exercise programme
- timeFrame
- From enrolment until completion of the intervention (approximately 16-24 weeks)
- description
- Feasibility will be assessed using participant recruitment, adherence to the prescribed exercise programme (target \>85% of prescribed sessions completed), compliance with prescribed exercise intensity, duration and type (target \>80%), and participant retention (target \<20% withdrawal for non-clinical reasons). Feasibility will be evaluated separately across the preoperative, perioperative and postoperative phases of the intervention.
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Adults aged 18 years or older. * Planned to undergo upfront pancreatoduodenectomy (Whipple's procedure) for a suspected malignant periampullary mass. * Able and willing to provide written informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: * \<18 years age * Cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) contraindications * Physical inability to perform CPET or undertake the program. * Lacking the capacity to consent * Unable to understand instructions in English * Not scheduled for surgery * A new diagnosis of Type 1 or Type 3c diabetes requiring management with insulin prescription will be excluded from the study.
References
Publications (0)
Data not yet available