Physical Exercise and Oesophageal Cancer: favourable effect on pre-surgical Chemo

While there was increasing evidence of the benefit of exercise in enhanced tumour volume reduction following chemotherapy in animal models, there was no reported histopathological evidence of a similar oncological benefit in oesophageal cancer till date. Now, a prospective non-randomised trial has suggested that exercise prehabilitation during neoadjuvant chemotherapy may enhance tumour regression in oesophageal cancer. The trial compared a structured prehabilitation exercise intervention during neoadjuvant chemotherapy and surgery versus conventional best-practice for oesophageal cancer patients. Outcome measures included radiological and pathological markers of disease regression. The results have hinted at improved tumour regression and downstaging in the exercise intervention group. This effort has highlighted the need for large-scale studies to arrive at more robust conclusions.

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