What are the benefits and harms of exercise interventions for people undergoing multimodal cancer treatment that includes surgery?

Abstract

Compared with usual care for people undergoing multimodal cancer treatment that includes surgery, exercise interventions (including a minimum of two to three sessions per week of at least 15 minutes each) may have little to no effect on physical fitness (low‐ to moderate‐certainty evidence) or on quality of life (moderate‐ to very low‐certainty evidence), although exercise probably reduces fatigue slightly (by 1 point on a 20‐point scale, and by 6 points on a 100‐point scale; moderate‐certainty evidence). The only adverse event reported among 507 participants was a brain tumor in one participant, who had a seizure after exercise training (low‐certainty evidence). Reviewers found no studies that assessed postoperative outcomes.