Handgrip fatiguing exercise can provide objective assessment of cancer-related fatigue: a pilot study.

PURPOSE: As a subjective symptom, cancer-related fatigue is assessed via patient-reported outcomes. Due to the inherent bias of such evaluation, screening and treatment for cancer-related fatigue remains suboptimal. The purpose is to evaluate whether objective cancer patients' hand muscle mechanical parameters (maximal force, critical force, force variability) extracted from a fatiguing handgrip exercise may be correlated to the different dimensions (physical, emotional, and cognitive) of cancer-related fatigue. METHODS: Fourteen women with advanced breast cancer, still under or having previously received chemotherapy within the preceding 3 months, and 11 healthy women participated to the present study. Cancer-related fatigue was first assessed through the EORTC QLQ-30 and its fatigue module. Fatigability was then measured during 60 maximal repeated handgrip contractions. The maximum force, critical force (asymptote of the force-time evolution), and force variability (root mean square of the successive differences) were extracted. Multiple regression models were performed to investigate the influence of the force parameters on cancer-related fatigue's dimensions. RESULTS: The multiple linear regression analysis evidenced that physical fatigue was best explained by maximum force and critical force (r = 0.81; p = 0.029). The emotional fatigue was best explained by maximum force, critical force, and force variability (r = 0.83; p = 0.008). The cognitive fatigue was best explained by critical force and force variability (r = 0.62; p = 0.035). CONCLUSION: The handgrip maximal force, critical force, and force variability may offer objective measures of the different dimensions of cancer-related fatigue and could provide a complementary approach to the patient reported outcomes.

[Patients with prostate cancer treated by androgen deprivation therapy: Impact of adapted physical activity]. / Patients avec un cancer de la prostate traités par hormonothérapie : impact de l'activité physique adaptée.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this article is to present adapted physical activity (APA) and its potential impact on the androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) adverse effects, the limits and measures to promote its use among prostate cancer (PCa) patients treated with ADT. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A non-systematic review of the literature was performed with pubmed referenced articles, using the keywords "prostate cancer", "androgen deprivation" and "physical activity", and the main publications and recommendations of national and international health agencies, published between January 2010 and June 2019. RESULTS: APA represents an effective action to reduce adverse effects of ADT. Its integration into health care of PCa patients treated with ADT remains limited. CONCLUSION: To promote a APA development in this population, a multidisciplinary collaboration between healthcare and APA professionals is essential. This collaboration should enable implementation of standard and innovative APA programs and therapeutic education tools for patients, as well as development of information and promotion for healthcare professionals.