Neo-ACT Study

Physical exercise during neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer as a means to increase pathological complete response rates

Participate in the neo-ACT study

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, i.e. chemotherapy prior to surgery, is increasingly used to treat breast cancer. The effectiveness of this preoperative treatment is evaluated by microscopic examination of the breast tissue following surgery: it is assessed whether the tumour has responded to the treatment and hence shrunk or even disappeared completely. Since there is clear evidence that the prognosis is more favourable if the tumour has disappeared completely, there are strong incentives to try to increase the proportion of patients where this happens. Animal studies show that exercise concurrent to chemotherapy can halt tumour growth and shrink tumours, however these findings need to be confirmed in humans in larger scale studies. The Neo-ACT study aims to investigate whether exercise can increase the effectiveness of preoperative chemotherapy and thus increase the proportion of patients whose tumours are absent following chemotherapy. The study also investigates whether exercise can lead to improved wellbeing and fewer side effects during and after cancer treatment.

All participants will receive:

• A Fitbit watch
• Comprehensive physical assessments
• The chance to receive a free exercise program during the course of neoadjuvant chemotherapy

You may be eligible to participate if you:

• Are 18+ years of age
• Are scheduled to undergo preoperative chemotherapy for breast cancer 
• Have access to good quality internet and a computer or tablet

If you are interested in participating, please contact the exercise oncology team via email: ExerciseOncology@acu.edu.au or phone: 03 9230 8268

This study has been approved by the ACU Human Research Ethics Committee (2024-3959RC).