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Effectiveness of an Individualized Program of Muscular Strength and Endurance Program for Improving Germ Cell Cancer

Effectiveness of an Individualized Program of Muscular Strength and Endurance Program With Aerobic Training for Improving Germ Cell Cancer Related Fatigue in Men Undergoing Chemotherapy

Status
Completed
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT02433197
Acronym
EFICATEST
Enrollment
20
Registered
2015-05-04
Start date
2015-12-01
Completion date
Unknown
Last updated
2026-04-08

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Testicular Germ Cell Cancer

Keywords

Testicular cancer, Germ cell cancer, Physical exercise, Cancer-related fatigue, Chemotherapy, Clinical rules, Metabolomics

Brief summary

Background: Patients with testicular germ cell cancer (GCC) have a high cure rate, however impaired muscle function and fatigue are the most common complications among patients with GCC undergoing treatment with chemotherapy. Although exercise is widely recommended, information about physiopathological effects of cancer therapy in skeletal muscle is very limited. Methods/Design: The present study is a randomized controlled trial comparing an individualized program of muscular strength and endurance with aerobic training compared to a control group. All variables will be measured at the beginning and at the end of a 8-week intervention by the same evaluator, who will hide the disposition of participants to each group. Besides, it will be monitoring during de following 6 months (24 weeks) after training for all outcome variables.

Detailed description

Background: Patients with testicular germ cell cancer (GCC) have a high cure rate, however impaired muscle function and fatigue are the most common complications among patients with GCC undergoing treatment with chemotherapy. Although exercise is widely recommended, information about physiopathological effects of cancer therapy in skeletal muscle is very limited. Our aim is to evaluate the effects of an individualized exercise program with aerobic training in water running on cancer-related fatigue. Methods/Design: The present study is a randomized controlled trial comparing an individualized program of muscular strength and endurance with aerobic training compared to a control group. The investigators will conduct this trial in patients undergoing chemotherapy, recruited by the Departament of Oncology of Virgen de la Victoria Hospital (Málaga). Patients will be included and evaluated before the first cycle of chemotherapy and assigned experimental or control group randomly. All variables will be measured at the beginning and at the end of a 8-week intervention by the same evaluator, who will hide the disposition of participants to each group. Besides, it will be monitoring during de following 6 months (24 weeks) after training for all outcome variables.

Interventions

DEVICEAerobic program

The intervention will be an 8-week program of individualized physiotherapy strength and muscular endurance with aerobic training, led by physiotherapists in groups of 8-10 participants. Each program will be individualized based on the evaluations of muscular strength and enduranceas well as determination of aerobic-anaerobic zone transition described in previous studies In sessions of one hour 3 times a week. Each session will consist of 30 minutes of exercises performed on land followed by 20 minutes of continuous running in treadmill. In week 1 and 2 participants carry out 3 sets of 15 repetitions (reps) to become familiar with the exercises. From week 3 onwards participants will perform 4 sets of 10 reps. If the participant can do more than 12 reps, weight will be increased. All exercises are conducted supervised to ensure proper technique and adequate progression.

Sponsors

University of Malaga
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 45 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Patients programmed to chemotherapy

Exclusion criteria

\-

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Cancer-related fatigue QuickPiper scale20 minutesThe primary outcome will be fatigue, assessed by the revised Cancer-related fatigue QuickPiper scale, with the semi-structured interview used by Cella et al (1998) to define phenotype of CRF

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Sf-1210 minThe state of physical and mental health
EuroQoL-5D10 minQuality of life
Profile of Mood States10 minIt is possible to obtain an overall index of altered mood and seven partial measures: stress / anxiety, depression / rejection, anger / hostility, vigor / activity, fatigue / inertia and confusion / bewilderment
Physical condition test20 minstrength peak of knee extension (quadriceps), knee flexion (hamstring), elbow extension (brachial triceps) and elbow flexion (biceps brachii) by one dynamometry instrumented with Powertruck II of JTECH, following the protocol described by Daniels \& Worthingham (1995). Hand grip strength will be evaluated by the hydraulic dynamometer JAMAR
C-reactive protein (CRP)20 minIt will be measured in blood samples following clinical standards in 10 ml venous blood
Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-a)20 minIt will be measured in blood samples following clinical standards in 10 ml venous blood sample.
Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Interleukin-18 (IL-18), Interleukin-4 (IL-4) and Interleukin-10 (IL 10)20 minIt will be measured in blood samples following clinical standards in 10 ml venous blood
high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, triglycerides20 minIt will be measured in blood samples following clinical standards in 10 ml venous blood

Countries

Spain

Contacts

STUDY_DIRECTORAntonio I Cuesta-Vargas

University of Malaga

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Apr 9, 2026