[Exercise Therapy for Children with Cancer Related Fatigue]

Cancer Related Fatigue (CRF) is known as one of the strongest and incriminating side effects of cancer for adults and children. By now there is a lack of valid assessments and sufficient therapy in pediatric oncology. For children it is a tough challenge to accept this overwhelming tiredness and lower activity level in their daily life routines. First positive effects in CFR therapy were found by adults, but this specific scientific field is very young and therefore mostly unexplored. 4 databases for medical and therapeutic journals were systematically searched for RCTs, CCTs and CTs. Systematic reviews were analyzed as well. All studies were carried out in pediatric oncology and deal with exercise therapy. The enclosed studies were valued by PEDro-Scale. Only a handful papers about a potential reduction of CRF in pediatrics could be found, one RCT, 2 CCTs and one CT. No additional results could be found. To summarize the 4 papers, it can be stated that the duration of intervention depends between 2 days and 12 weeks. Also there are differences between the option inpatient and outpatient programs, as well as with or without supervising. The exercise therapy mostly consists of strength and endurance training in combination with warm-up and cool-down programs. This review underlines the importance of developing new assessments. Especially bigger groups of participants should be analyzed with the scope on individualized, supervised program. So far, CRF is underestimated in pediatric oncology and it is very crucial to identify the symptoms. This could lead to an improvement in quality of life.