Three months of chemotherapy ages heart by six years: research

EXERCISING during cancer treatment can protect the heart against accelerated ageing from the toxic but lifesaving therapy, new research has found.

Holly Austin, 32, maintained a regular exercise program during breast cancer treatment. Picture: Alex Coppel.

EXERCISING during cancer treatment can protect the heart against accelerated ageing from the toxic but lifesaving therapy, new research has found.

A world-first trial by The Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute found that the hearts of breast cancer patients who exercised during chemotherapy were protected.

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But the cardiac function of those who weren’t active aged by the equivalent of six years after three months of therapy.

And preliminary findings from a follow-up to the pilot study show that this ageing may not be reversible, further strengthening the advice that cardio and strength-based exercise is vital to safeguard the short and long-term health of cancer patients.

Lead researcher and The Baker’s head of sports cardiology Associate Professor Andre La Gerche said it was important to find ways to minimise heart damage, given that women with early disease were now more likely to die from heart disease than cancer.

The Baker recruited 30 patients — half were advised to follow a healthy lifestyle, including exercise.

The rest were given two supervised exercise sessions a week and a home-based program to follow for four months after they received anthracycline-based chemotherapy.

The preliminary findings, presented today at the Victorian Cancer Survivorship Conference, found that overall the heart did not pump as well after chemotherapy.

When the heart was stressed with exercise and VO2 max test results were compared, they found that the ability to use oxygen in non-exercisers fell by 17 per cent.

“It’s quite significant because the drop in fitness is the equivalent of what you’d see in six years of normal ageing, and that was occurring in three months of chemotherapy,” Associate Prof La Gerche said.

Exercise helps prevent accelerated heart ageing in cancer patients. Picture: Gregg Porteous

“Plus, we know VO2 max is a prognostic marker for premature death. Ageing six years actually corresponds to six years of life lost.”

Associate Prof La Gerche said the exercise test pre-treatment was also an accurate way of predicting who was most at-risk during chemotherapy, to better target prevention programs.

They are now recruiting 100 women for a randomised trial looking at the impact of 12 months of exercise on the heart and muscles after chemotherapy, to further validate the findings.

There were days when Holly Austin would be left huffing and puffing walking just five metres in the midst of treatment for breast cancer two years ago.

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But the 33-year-old persevered with exercise during chemotherapy, including in The Baker trial, and now started a blog called Journey Back to Fit to document her progression to full health after finishing treatment late last year.

“Exercise gave you more energy and made me mentally stronger,” Ms Austin said.