from University of Pennsylvania
Nearly all of us know of at least one person undergoing chemotherapy for a type of cancer. Cancer and its treatments are difficult at best, but new research from the University of Pennsylvania adds a new dimension to chemotherapy. It found combining exercise with chemotherapy shrank tumors more than chemotherapy alone. Although exercise has long been recommended for cancer patients for physical and psychological benefits, this study was testing laboratory animals to see if exercise could protect against damaging the heart. Animals given a common type of chemo, as expected, had reduced heart function with damage to heart tissue. However, animals that exercised seemed to be protected from that damage, while those receiving both chemo and exercise had significantly smaller tumors after two weeks than animals receiving only chemo.