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Published VersionCC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Enhancing treatment outcomes after gynaecological cancer (ACUMEN): a randomised controlled exercise trial protocol
BMC Cancer, Vol.25, pp.1-11
2025
PMID: 40691826
Appears in Cancer Research Cluster Research Collection
Abstract
Background
Treatment for gynaecological cancer often entails challenges that negatively affect quality-of-life. While exercise has been shown to improve physical and psychosocial well-being during cancer recovery, affected women often avoid exercise due to the specific health challenges they face after treatment. The Enhancing treatment outcomes after gynaecological cancer (ACUMEN) program aims to enhance health-related quality of life in this group by promoting lifelong exercise habits.
Methods
The ACUMEN trial is a single-blind, multi-centre randomised controlled trial that evaluates the impact of a structured exercise intervention on quality of life in women who have completed primary treatment for gynaecological cancer within the last 60 months. A total of 342 participants will be randomly assigned to either usual care or an intervention group. The intervention involves a 12-week personalised exercise program, where participants will complete three 1-h exercise sessions per week. During the first six weeks, participants will receive two supervised sessions with accredited exercise physiologists or physiotherapists and self-manage one session per week. In the following six weeks, this shifts to one supervised session and two self-managed sessions weekly, with goal of fostering sustainable, self-managed exercise habits. Assessments will take place at baseline, Week 12 (end of intervention), and Week 24 (end of maintenance). The primary outcome is health-related quality of life, measured by the Short Form-36. Secondary outcomes include exercise self-efficacy, body composition, symptoms of lymphoedema, physical fitness, biological markers, and habitual physical activity levels. For intervention group participants assigned accredited exercise physiologists or physiotherapists will track attendance, adherence, feasibility, and safety.
Discussion
The ACUMEN trial will evaluate whether a structured exercise program improves health-related quality of life in women recovering from gynaecological cancer treatment. The findings will help determine if the intervention is effective and sustainable, with a simultaneous cost-effectiveness analysis conducted to assess its value for money. Results from this study could inform future exercise-based interventions to enhance cancer recovery.
Trial registration
Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12621000050853, registered 19/01/2021).
Details
- Title
- Enhancing treatment outcomes after gynaecological cancer (ACUMEN): a randomised controlled exercise trial protocol
- Authors
- Vivian Chiu (Corresponding Author) - The University of QueenslandAlexander Boytar - University of TorontoBrent Cunningham - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of HealthTina Skinner - UNSW SydneyJane Turner - The University of QueenslandDebra Anderson - University of Technology SydneyAsaduzzaman Khan - The University of QueenslandTom Bailey - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, UniSC Clinical Trials CentreJanine Porter-Steele - Griffith UniversityLeonie Young - Wesley HospitalHaitham Tuffaha - The University of QueenslandLewis Perrin - The University of QueenslandAndrea Garrett - Wesley HospitalJeffrey Goh - Royal Brisbane and Women's HospitalGrace Rose - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Health - Sports & Exercise ScienceBriana Clifford - UNSW SydneySjaan Gomersall - The University of QueenslandDarren Korbie - The University of QueenslandNicolas Constantin - The University of QueenslandJackie Li - The University of QueenslandAlexandra Leigh McCarthy - The University of Queensland
- Publication details
- BMC Cancer, Vol.25, pp.1-11
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Date published
- 2025
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12885-025-14298-3
- ISSN
- 1471-2407
- PMID
- 40691826
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
- Grant note
- Funding for this research was received from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Research Grant Application (APP1199890) following an independent peer-review process.
- Organisation Unit
- Healthy Ageing Research Cluster; School of Health; UniSC Clinical Trials Centre; Cancer Research Cluster; School of Health - Sports & Exercise Science
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991153836502621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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