Cancer Research Hub

PURPOSE: Chronic cancer-related pain is a prevalent and often under-recognized issue among individuals living with or after cancer. Clinically useful tools are needed to classify pain severity and impact and to identify those requiring targeted support. This study applied the...

Although robust observational data have long associated physical activity with improved colon cancer survival, the lack of randomized evidence has perpetuated a “causality gap,” confining exercise to supportive lifestyle advice and creating a clinical dilemma for surgeons. This paradigm has...

PURPOSE: Work participation is one of the aims of cancer rehabilitation for individuals with breast cancer (BC). This study aimed to verify the feasibility of a multidisciplinary intervention addressing the work-related difficulties of working-age individuals with BC. METHODS: In this...

Cancer prehabilitation aims to improve outcomes by helping patients physically and mentally prepare for treatment. This qualitative study aimed to investigate barriers and facilitators to engaging in prostate cancer prehabilitation and create recommendations for designing interventions. Semi-structured interviews were used...

PURPOSE: To examine the feasibility and exploratory immunological, metabolic, and patient-reported effects of a supervised exercise intervention during (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy in women with early-stage breast cancer. METHODS: This non-randomised pilot study examined a 12-week supervised combined aerobic and resistance exercise...

: Cachexia is a multifactorial muscle wasting syndrome driven by inflammation, causing increased catabolism and decreased food intake. Using appetite stimulation as part of multidisciplinary rehabilitation for cachexia is an emerging strategy. Olanzapine was originally developed as an atypical antipsychotic...

Fear of cancer progression (FoP) is a well-recognised, clinically significant dimension of quality of life in oncology, yet it remains largely unstudied among men treated for reproductive system malignancies in Central Asia. This study assessed the level and correlates of...

: Exercise is increasingly used in supportive care for lung cancer, but its effects on depressive symptoms remain uncertain. This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesized randomized evidence. : Four electronic databases were searched for reports published from January 2000 to...

BACKGROUND: Psychological prehabilitation aims to prepare patients for cancer treatment, yet psychological readiness is under-specified and distress during and after treatment is common. A patient-informed account of readiness is needed to guide readiness-focused, proactive psychological support in cancer care. AIMS:...

Regular exercise mediates inter-tissue communication between skeletal muscle and the immune system through skeletal muscle-derived secretory factors, providing an important molecular basis for the beneficial effects of exercise on chronic inflammation, metabolic dysregulation, and impaired tissue repair. As key effector...

INTRODUCTION: The rehabilitation of patients following jaw tumor resection presents significant challenges, with the goal of restoring both function and quality of life (QoL). Dental implant-supported prostheses are a cornerstone of this rehabilitation, yet the optimal protocol is not universal....

BACKGROUND: Consumer wearable activity monitors are increasingly being used as end points in exercise-oncology trials and in clinical decision-making, yet their accuracy is unvalidated in lung cancer, where slow, fragmented gait may challenge step-counting algorithms. OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the...

On behalf of the organizing committee, we are pleased to present the abstracts from the 2026 conference, “PEOC meets FORTEe”. The Third Pediatric Exercise Oncology Congress, this year meeting in person with the EU Study FORTEe (Get Strong to Fight...

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is a common debilitating symptom of breast cancer (BC), and its treatment may result in a significant symptom burden and affect adherence to treatment. Graded exercise therapy (GET) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) have separately been shown in...

This study aims to evaluate longitudinal changes in health state utility values, health-related quality of life, physical function, nutritional status, and fatigue in patients with malignant lymphoma from the start of chemotherapy to 1 year post-chemotherapy and clarify the implications...

BACKGROUND: Emerging evidence suggests exercise may improve radiotherapy efficacy by reducing treatment resistance caused by tumour hypoxia. However, recruitment to exercise oncology studies is low (median 38%), particularly for people with lung cancer. One strategy to address such engagement barriers...

Physical exercise is a vital component of cancer rehabilitation, with demonstrated improvements in cancer health-related outcomes, relapse rates, mortality and overall survival, yet global participation remains low. In Singapore, uptake of community cancer rehabilitation is limited despite high prevalence of...

: Cardiovascular toxicity and pre-existing cardiovascular disease can affect cancer-treatment tolerance, functional recovery, and survivorship. This narrative review aimed to summarize current evidence and propose an author-derived risk-adaptive clinical framework for adult cardio-oncology rehabilitation (CORE), organized around exercise prescription, multimodal...

BACKGROUND: Mounting evidence underscores the adverse effects of excess body weight during cancer survivorship, yet many breast cancer survivors struggle to maintain a healthy weight (approximately 70% have overweight or obesity [OW/OB]). Daily caloric restriction with increased physical activity is...

As cancer survival improves, rehabilitation has become an increasingly important component of comprehensive oncology care, addressing the growing burden of treatment-related impairments. Although electrotherapy modalities are widely used in Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, their application in oncology remains controversial because...

BACKGROUND: Immune fitness (IF) reflects the body’s ability to mount appropriate immune responses. Monitoring IF could improve tailored treatment in oncological rehabilitation. The Immune Status Questionnaire (ISQ) and the Single-Item Scale (SIS) were developed to assess IF, but their clinimetric...

Exercise-induced myokines, such as IL-6, irisin, and myostatin, play crucial roles in mediating systemic adaptations and modulating tumor progression. This narrative review synthesizes evidence on how regular moderate-intensity exercise affects the myokine network within the tumor microenvironment (TME) of solid...

: Hematologic malignancies (HMs) represent a growing global health burden, and HSCT remains a cornerstone of treatment for many HMs. Despite improvements in survival, transplantation-related physical deconditioning is a persistent clinical challenge, and evidence supporting structured inpatient exercise interventions is...

BACKGROUND: Function is critically important to cancer survivors, who are at risk of losing independence and mobility. But relatively, little is known about how pain, a widely prevalent symptom, contributes to functional decline. Understanding this may lead to earlier intervention...

Despite advances in oncology, the clinical response to treatments, particularly immunotherapy, remains highly variable due to the complex tumor immune microenvironment. While regular exercise is recognized as a supportive intervention to improve patient outcomes, its mechanistic integration into personalized cancer...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Patients with advanced cancer frequently experience high symptom burden and reduced quality of life. Physiotherapy may represent an important nonpharmacological component of palliative care; however, evidence regarding its effectiveness in hospitalized patients remains limited. This study evaluated...

Cancer survivors admitted to inpatient rehabilitation suffer from a complex burden of interrelated physical and psychological symptoms. While mean-level improvements during rehabilitation are well-documented, it remains unknown whether rehabilitation modifies the underlying structure of symptom interconnections-the symptom network-beyond reducing individual...

Physical exercise is strongly recommended for breast cancer survivors due to its beneficial effects on physical function, metabolic health, and quality of life. Lactate, traditionally considered a metabolic byproduct of glycolysis, is increasingly recognized as a signaling molecule involved in...

Patients with cancer often experience intertwined symptom burden and functional decline that contribute to falls, unsafe transfers, uncontrolled symptoms, caregiver strain, and crisis-driven care. Physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R), also known as physiatry, and specialty PC both address suffering and...