Convenience and integration of exercise assessment and prescription as an integral component for patient management and support should be of benefit to patients.

Aim: To evaluate the physical outcomes of an onsite supervised exercise program administered during cancer patients’ acute treatment phase.

Methods: Over 18 months, 109 patients (58.8 + 12.7 years) undergoing radiation or chemotherapy completed a supervised exercise program within the radiation and chemotherapy outpatient suites. Patients with a variety of cancers, mainly breast (60 cases), prostate (17 cases) and bowel cancer (7 cases) undertook the program, which included a structured and supervised exercise program either before or after each oncological treatment sessions for the duration of their therapy. Assessments were conducted at baseline and post-intervention on 50 patients and presented here as preliminary data. Endpoints included muscular strength, physical function and body composition.

Results: 50 patients (58.9 + 12.2 years) that undertook pre- and post-testing had an adherence rate of >75% with at least 12 exercise training sessions completed. Only one participant had an adverse event with treatment, missing exercise sessions. There were no other major adverse effects despite some participants feeling fatigued over the exercise training period. Post-intervention muscle strength increased significantly (p < 0.05) for chest press (9.2%); seated row (6.5%) and leg press (26.3%). Of the physical function variables repeated chair rise (9.8%), 6m usual (6.7%) and fast walk (3.2%) improved significantly (p < 0.05). All other physical function variables (stair climb, backward and 400m walk) and body composition did not change over the study period.

Conclusions: Clinical exercise services provided during chemo or radiation therapy is well accepted and safe and results in maintenance or improvement in key functional and body composition parameters during treatment that usually causes considerable decrement.