Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

Shortness of breath is one of the most common and debilitating symptoms in patients with lung cancer. Many patients experience shortness of breath for several years after receiving surgery for lung cancer and these symptoms are often worse than those which they experienced prior to treatment. Shortness of breath negatively influences mental and physical health, which can lead to reductions in quality of life and a greater risk of mortality. However, the primary cause(s) of shortness of breath are unknown. Patients become more short of breath when they exert themselves physically. This is because of the increased demand on the respiratory (breathing) system and skeletal muscles. Patients with lung cancer who have had surgery to remove tumors in the lung(s) experience additional stress on the breathing muscles due to a reduction in lung tissue and total lung capacity, as well as deconditioning of the skeletal muscles following recovery from surgery. Furthermore, evidence suggests that the breathing muscles are weakened following surgery and likely contribute to shortness of breath in patients with lung cancer. Patients who become short of breath often stop exercise early or avoid exercise entirely, resulting in further deconditioning and reductions in exercise capacity. This is important not only because exercise capacity predicts survival in patients with lung cancer, but is also associated with quality of life. Exercise training programs have been shown to reduce shortness of breath and improve exercise capacity in patients with other chronic respiratory conditions. However, there is currently no formal exercise rehabilitation available for patients with lung cancer. It is therefore important to understand the primary cause(s) of shortness of breath in patients with lung cancer, so that exercise training programs can be designed to overcome these limitations and to ultimately reduce shortness of breath and improve quality of life in this population.