Abstract des Autors

Patients with advanced cancer in which the primary aim of therapy is controlling symptoms are still capable of participating in appropriately designed exercise programs and may significantly benefit, both physically and psychologically, from such interventions. Overall, exercise regimens for patients with advanced cancer should be tailored on a personal basis to accommodate health status and limitations imposed by disease and should be part of an overall comprehensive plan of palliative care developed and administered by an interdisciplinary team. In general, palliative – symptomatic therapy measures may be most effective when introduced early in the course of disease management, even during the curative phase of therapy. In this chapter, approaches to palliative medicine are discussed in general and specifically for patients with tumors of the lung and respiratory track, prostate cancer, gynecologic tumors and gastrointestinal tumors. The effects of exercise interventions are reviewed also for symptom clusters that occur frequently in advanced cancer patients including chronic fatigue syndrome, the anorexia-cachexia syndrome and the chronic severe pain syndrome. Overall, it is important to note, that regardless of the course of the disease, the majority of advanced cancer patients who obtain measurable increase in performance with exercise training, report considerable improvement in quality of life. Verf.-Referat