Month-long HIIT raises fitness prior to urological cancer surgery

For patients awaiting resection for urological malignancy, engaging in high-intensity interval training (HIIT) for 4 weeks yields improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), cardiovascular health, and skeletal muscle, all of which represent a meaningful and achievable improvement in health status in the time available before surgery, according to a study.

Forty patients (mean age, 72 years; 39 men) were randomized to receive standard care (control) or undergo a fully supervised HIIT intervention for 4 weeks, of which 34 completed the protocol (16 and 18, respectively).

The control group were assessed at baseline and after the intervention with no visits in between. The HIIT group, on the other hand, underwent up to 12 sessions (3–4 times weekly, with no training at weekends) delivered on an individual basis at a university exercise laboratory, fully-supervised by a medically qualified doctor. The HIIT protocol was performed on a cycle ergometer, with a 2-min warm-up period of unloaded cycling, followed by 5, 1-min exertions at 100–115 percent of the maximal load, ending with a 2-min recovery period of unloaded cycling.

Compared with controls, the HIIT group achieved significant improvements in anaerobic threshold (VO_2AT; mean difference [MD], 2.26 ml/kg/min, 95 percent CI 1.25–3.26) at the end of the intervention.

HIIT also produced greater reductions in blood pressure (systolic: MD, −8.2 mm Hg, 95 percent CI, −16.09 to −0.29; diastolic: MD, −6.47 mm Hg, 95 percent CI, −12.56 to −0.38).

There were no adverse events documented during HIIT, and all participants achieved >85 percent predicted maximum heart rate during sessions.

More studies are needed to investigate the efficacy of prehabilitation HIIT upon different cancer types, postoperative complications, socioeconomic impact, and long-term survival.