Effects of exercise training on cardiotoxicity in cancer survivors. A systematic review

Cardiotoxicity is a major long-term complication of anti-cancer drugs such as anthracycline and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). These drugs also impact the quality of life, reduced functional capacity, and life expectancy. Exercise attenuates the cardiotoxic effects of anticancer treatments via antioxidant effects, as indicated by a growing body of evidence.

Studies for this review were retrieved from databases PubMed, SCOPUS, EMBASE, COCHRANE, and Web of Science and were restricted only to clinical trials. Study results were screened and synchronized to Mendeley. Studies that met the eligibility criteria were extracted into the spreadsheet, summarizing information regarding the site and cancer stages, adjuvant therapy, various exercise interventions, and outcome measures. Risk of bias quality analysis was done in accordance with the National Heart Lung Blood Institute.

In this systematic review, 9021 articles were screened. After the exclusion criteria, seven articles were included for qualitative analysis. Outcome measures analyzed were measures of cardiotoxicity such as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), cardiac biomarkers, and global longitudinal strain.

Although a structured exercise protocol including aerobic and resistance training has been found to improve, the functional capacity is an indirect measure of cardiotoxicity. There is a lack of data on improvements in direct measurements of cardiotoxicity, such as LVEF and cardiac biomarkers. A lack of evidence from direct measurements of cardiotoxicity regarding the effects of exercise underscores the need for further research.