The Effect of exeRcise And Diet on Quality of Life in Patients With Incurable Cancer of Esophagus and Stomach (RADICES)

During 12 weeks, patients will visit twice a week a trained oncology physiotherapist for one hour per session. This training includes supervised aerobic and resistance exercises to increase aerobic condition and muscle resistance, based on their own fitness level as assessed at baseline. Additionally, physiotherapists will educate participants on how to increase their daily activity. To this end, all participants will receive an activity tracker to monitor their daily activities.

Once every two weeks patients in the intervention group will receive a nutritional assessment and intervention by a trained dietician for optimization of their nutritional intake to improve their nutritional status, following the ESPEN guideline on nutrition in cancer patients and the national guidelines of the National Nutritionists Oncology Working Group (NNOWG; in Dutch: Landelijke Werkgroep Diëtisten Oncologie, LWDO). Moreover, an amount of 15-25 grams of protein within 1-2 hours after exercise will be advised, to prevent muscle protein breakdown and enhance muscle protein synthesis.