Personalized Home-based Interval Exercise Training May Improve Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Cancer Patients Preparing to Undergo Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation

Impaired cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with inferior survival in patients preparing to undergo hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Exercise training based on short, higher-intensity intervals has the potential to efficiently improve cardiorespiratory fitness. We studied home-based interval exercise training (IET) in 40 patients prior to autologous (N=20) or allogeneic (N=20) HCT. Each session consisted of 5, three-minute intervals of walking, jogging, or cycling at 65-95% maximal heart rate (MHR) with 3 minutes of low intensity exercise (<65% MHR) between intervals. Participants were asked to perform sessions at least 3 times weekly. The duration of the intervention was at least 6 weeks, depending on each patient’s scheduled transplantation date. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed from a peak oxygen consumption test (VO(2)peak) and a 6 minute walk (6MWD) before and after the intervention period. For the autologous HCT cohort, improvements in VO(2)peak (p=0.12) and 6MWD (p=0.19) were not statistically significant. For the allogeneic cohort, the median VO(2)peak improvement was 3.7ml/kg*min (p=0.005) and the median 6MWD improvement was 34 meters (p=0.006). Home-based, interval exercise training can be performed prior to HCT and has the potential to improve cardiorespiratory fitness.