Site Editors
Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Shaji K. Kumar, MD
Prashant Kapoor, MD, FACP
Posted: Wednesday, January 4, 2023
The role of telehealth exercise to improve outcomes for patients with multiple myeloma receiving hematopoietic stem cell transplantation remains elusive but may prove to be a feasible alternative option, according to a study protocol published in the journal Trials. This study has the potential to positively impact the management of various hematologic cancers through telemedicine, explained Kyuwan Lee, PhD, of the Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duarte, California, and colleagues.
This study aims to recruit a total of 60 patients with multiple myeloma. All patients would have previously received autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation within a 30- to 180-day period. Patients would be classified as pre-frail or frail, according to the Fried criteria (weakness, slowness, unintentional weight loss, exhaustion, and low physical activity), and would be randomly assigned to receive either an 8-week telehealth exercise intervention (n = 30) or standard care (n = 30). Patients in the telehealth exercise group would be provided with gait sensors, a hand dynamometer, and exercise equipment. Each exercise session would be at least 30 minutes in duration and would occur three times weekly.
Multiple baseline assessments would be administered to all patients before the commencement of the study and would be repeated postintervention at weeks 9 and 17 to assess patients’ perception of participating in physical activity, level of fatigue, quality of life, pain, and sleep quality. Between the two postintervention assessments, patients would be expected to continue exercising, employing the strategies they learned during treatment.
For more details on the study, which is currently open to accrual, visit ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT05142371.
Disclosure: For full disclosures of the study authors, visit biomedcentral.com.
JNCCN Spotlights
