Body
In a recent article published on the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Cancer.gov website, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s Ishan Roy, MD, PhD, attending physician, Cancer Rehabilitation Clinic, and research scientist, was featured prominently as an expert on cachexia — a cancer-related muscle-wasting syndrome.
Dr. Roy explained the Cancer Rehabilitation Clinic’s methodology — “treating exercise like medicine” — as one of the current treatment approaches for patients with cachexia:
- Assessing how exercise can be adapted to a person’s specific physical abilities.
- Trying to learn how “exercise can be more precisely delivered so that it can be combined with medical therapies or nutritional changes.”
- Using gait training.
- Improving core strength.
Dr. Roy also noted that oncologists appear to be more attuned to cachexia symptoms in their patients and are offering more referrals to the SRAlab program.
“I'll tell you that people are excited to have this opportunity,” he said.
