RESULTS OF THE ECHO-R TRIAL – A PRAGMATIC, TELEHEALTH-DELIVERED EXERCISE INTERVENTION FOR WOMEN WITH RECURRENT OVARIAN CANCER

Abstract

INTRODUCTION & AIMS Wide-spread and equitable uptake of exercise into standard cancer care will require evidence of safety and efficacy across all cancer and treatment types. People with rarer cancers, lower survival prospects, and higher morbidity have been under-represented in exercise oncology trials. The ECHO-R trial for women with recurrent ovarian cancer aimed to address this research gap, evaluating the efficacy of a 6-month telephone-delivered, exercise intervention consistent with ESSA exercise oncology prescription guidelines. METHODS 50 women scheduled to receive chemotherapy for recurrent ovarian cancer were recruited to the pre-post exercise trial with assessments at baseline and post-intervention (6 months post-baseline). The intervention was delivered via 12 telephone sessions, with the option of five additional study-funded, in-person sessions with a community-based AEP. The intervention had a global target of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity multimodal exercise per week, with actual volume and prescription individualised at each session, dependent on functional capacity, goals, and barriers. Outcomes included feasibility (volume of exercise completed) and harms profile (occurrence of adverse outcomes) of the intervention, changes in patient-reported outcomes (quality of life [QoL; FACT-O], fatigue [FACT-Fatigue] and neurotoxicity [FACT-GOG-NTX]), and objective assessment of aerobic function (6-minute-walk test), muscular endurance (30-second sit-to-stand) and strength (hand grip). RESULTS The average volume of exercise completed did not meet the target (median 100 min/week, min: 0; max 527). QoL, fatigue, neurotoxicity, aerobic function, muscular endurance, and strength remained stable between the pre and post-intervention assessments. There were no serious adverse events. CONCLUSION Recurrent ovarian cancer is an incurable disease, characterised by declining QoL and physical capacity. Findings from this study suggest that maintenance of QoL and physical function is possible through participation in an exercise intervention, even if exercise targets are not met. Physical activity guidelines may need to reflect this.