The Effect of an Exercise Therapy Program on Physical Function in Patients Undergoing a Haematopoietic Progenitor Cell Transplantation: An Observational Study

Author(s): Antonio Chamorro Comesana, Noa Pineiro Fernandez, Patricia Rodriguez Fernandez, Natalia Fente Garcia, Francisco Xose Roman Losada, Maria del Carmen Quintela Gonzalez, Agustin Nieto Vazquez, Ana Santamaria Lopez, Judith Vazquez Alvarez, o Angela Prieto, Maria del Carmen Albo Lopez

Purpose: To observe the effect of a exercise therapy (ET) program on the physical capacity of patients undergoing a haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) 3 months after said intervention.
Methods: An observational study was carried out in patients who underwent a HSCT between September 2020 and August 2021. Patients were assessed before admission and 3 months after the transplant. The 30-second chair to stand test (30CST) was used to measure lower body resistance, and the timed up and go (TUG) was employed to assess functional mobility and detect balance and coordination problems. During admission, the patients completed the ET program developed at the hospital and based on the guidelines for ET after a HSCT from the Spanish Group for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (GETH-TC).
Results: 34 patients were included. Three months after the HSCT, a decrease both in the number of 30CST repetitions from 11.58 ± 4.09 to 10.94 ± 3.54 (p < 0.0001) and in the time to perform the TUG from 9.86 ± 5.56 to 8.65 ± 3.30 seconds (p < 0.0001) was recorded.
Conclusions: An ET program starting with conditioning for a HSCT is safe, can improve coordination and balance, and serves to help mitigate the loss of muscle strength these patients tend to experience because of disease, the transplant process, and prolonged inactivity.