Exercise Therapy in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC)

Brief summary (registry, in English)

The goals of this clinical trial are to learn 1. Determine the feasibility of a home-based exercise analog therapy using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS), 2. Determine the effects of exercise analog therapy on muscle mass, strength, and clinical outcomes, and 3. Determine the effects of exercise analog therapy on immune phenotype and inflammation response in patients undergoing radiation for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The main question it aims to answer are: Does an exercise regimen using an analog TENS unit during the course of cancer treatment for those with HNSCC improve muscle mass, strength, clinical outcomes and immune response compared to those that do not perform the exercise regimen during their cancer treatment? Researchers will compare outcomes of patients undergoing cancer treatment + TENS unit exercise to those being treated for their cancer with no exercise TENS unit. In the exercise arm, subjects will use the TENS unit for 30 minutes of exercise a day, 3 times a week for the extent of their cancer treatments. Weekly check-ins by phone or less frequently at scheduled in person visits. Participants will keep a log of their exercise sessions to make sure that the exercise occurs 3 times a week for 30 minutes each and note any reasons why a session may have been missed or time shortened. Both arms will have a blood draw at the beginning of their cancer treatment and approximately 4 weeks after the last cancer treatment (\~40mL). These samples will be tested for molecules that signal a higher or lower immune response with the addition of the exercise in one group compared to the cancer therapy only group.

What you commit to

• Study type: Interventional
• Planned participants: 40
• From 1 Apr 2025 to the primary completion date, 31 Dec 2026
• No sites listed in no country
• Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them

Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.

Who cannot take part

Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.

Who the study is looking for

Age in the registry: 18 years to - · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers

Full criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov