Exercise to Improve Outcomes in Pancreatic Cancer
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: ExO-PanC Personalised Exercise Programme.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Pancreas Adenocarcinoma (MSI-H), Deconditioning. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United Kingdom
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Exercise-Based Pre-, Peri- and Post-Surgery Intervention to Improve Clinical and Translational Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Whipple's Procedure: A Feasibility Study.
Overview
Pancreatic cancer surgery (Whipple's procedure) is a major operation that can lead to reduced physical fitness, delayed recovery, and difficulty starting chemotherapy after surgery. Exercise before and after surgery may help improve recovery, but it is not known whether a personalised exercise programme delivered throughout the surgical pathway is practical or acceptable for patients. The Exercise to Improve Outcomes in Pancreatic Cancer (ExO-PanC) study is a single-arm feasibility study that will recruit adults with suspected pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma who are scheduled to undergo Whipple's procedure. Participants will receive an individualised exercise programme before surgery, during their hospital stay, and after discharge until the start of adjuvant chemotherapy. The programme will include aerobic exercise and resistance training prescribed according to each participant's fitness level. The primary objective is to determine whether this exercise programme is feasible by assessing recruitment, participant adherence, compliance with the prescribed exercise programme, and retention. Secondary exploratory objectives include evaluating surgical complications, initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy, physical fitness, quality of life, nutritional status, and blood, stool, and tumour biomarkers associated with clinical outcomes. Findings from this feasibility study will inform the design of a future multicentre randomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of the ExO-PanC programme.
Detailed description
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is associated with poor survival, reduced physical function, and a high burden of treatment-related morbidity. Patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple's procedure) often experience substantial declines in cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle function before and after surgery, which may contribute to postoperative complications, delayed recovery, and reduced likelihood of receiving adjuvant chemotherapy. While prehabilitation programmes are increasingly incorporated into routine care, current approaches are not typically individualised using objective measures of physical fitness and generally do not extend across the entire perioperative pathway.
The Exercise to Improve Outcomes in Pancreatic Cancer (ExO-PanC) study has been developed to evaluate the feasibility of a personalised exercise programme delivered before surgery, during hospital admission, and throughout postoperative recovery until the commencement of adjuvant chemotherapy. Exercise prescriptions will be individualised using cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), muscle strength assessments, and functional performance measures, allowing exercise intensity and progression to be tailored to each participant's physiological capacity.
Participants will undergo repeated assessments of cardiorespiratory fitness, physical function, muscle strength, nutritional status, quality of life, and biological sampling throughout the study. Blood, stool, and surgically resected tumour tissue will be collected to explore biomarkers associated with clinical outcomes and responses to exercise.
The primary objective of this feasibility study is to determine whether the ExO-PanC intervention can be successfully delivered across the perioperative pathway by evaluating participant recruitment, adherence, compliance with prescribed exercise, and study retention. Exploratory analyses will investigate surgical complications, initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy, changes in physical fitness and quality of life, and relationships between biological markers and clinical outcomes.
Results from this study will establish the feasibility of implementing a personalised perioperative exercise programme for patients undergoing pancreatic cancer surgery and will provide essential data to inform the design of a future adequately powered multicentre randomised controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of the ExO-PanC intervention.
Interventions
- Behavioral ExO-PanC Personalised Exercise Programme
Participants will receive the ExO-PanC personalised exercise programme alongside standard perioperative care. The intervention comprises four phases delivered across the surgical pathway: (1) prehabilitation before surgery, (2) supervised exercise during postoperative hospital admission, (3) structured home-based recovery following hospital discharge, and (4) rehabilitation before the commencement of adjuvant chemotherapy. Exercise prescriptions are individualised using cardiopulmonary exercise
Primary outcome measures
- Feasibility of the ExO-PanC exercise programme [Time frame: From enrolment until completion of the intervention (approximately 16-24 weeks)]
Secondary outcome measures (7)
- Postoperative surgical complications [Time frame: Up to approximately 6 weeks following surgery.]
- Commencement and completion of adjuvant chemotherapy [Time frame: From surgery until planned commencement and completion of adjuvant chemotherapy.]
- Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) measured by cardiopulmonary excercise testing (CPET) [Time frame: Baseline through completion of the intervention (approximately 16-24 weeks)]
- Muscle strength [Time frame: Baseline through completion of the intervention (approximately 16-24 weeks).]
- Change in health-related quality of life measured using the EORTC QLQ-C30 [Time frame: Serial measurements from baseline through completion of the intervention (approximately 16-24 weeks).]
- Nutritional status [Time frame: Baseline through completion of the intervention (approximately 16-24 weeks).]
- Change in pancreatic cancer-specific quality of life measured using the EORTC QLQ-PAN26 [Time frame: This will be measured at five timepoints from recruitment through to commencement of adjuvant chemotherapy]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Adults aged 18 years or older.
- Planned to undergo upfront pancreatoduodenectomy (Whipple's procedure) for a suspected malignant periampullary mass.
- Able and willing to provide written informed consent.
Exclusion criteria
- <18 years age
- Cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) contraindications
- Physical inability to perform CPET or undertake the program.
- Lacking the capacity to consent
- Unable to understand instructions in English
- Not scheduled for surgery
- A new diagnosis of Type 1 or Type 3c diabetes requiring management with insulin prescription will be excluded from the study.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- N/A
- Model
- Single group
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
Study locations
United Kingdom · 1 center
- University of Surrey — Guildford
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07710495 · 350182