Best evidence summary for the management of exercise in patients with central venous access devices

Abstract

Background:

Central venous access devices (CVAD) are widely used in patient care, providing an essential, reliable pathway for patients to receive chemotherapy, long-term infusions, and nutritional support. However, a system of exercise management has not been developed in patients with CVAD.

Purpose:

To evaluate and summarize the evidence for management exercise in patients with CVAD and provide guidance for clinical practice.

Methods:

Systematic searches were conducted in domestic and international databases for evidence on exercise in patients with CVAD. The types of literature included clinical decisions, guidelines, systematic reviews, expert consensus, and original research. The retrieval time is from the database construction to October 2023.

Results:

We finally identified 20 articles that had high-quality results. We summarized the 26 pieces of best evidence from these articles, covering nine aspects: the effects of exercise interventions; ways of exercise; type of exercise tools; timing of exercise; dose of exercise; exercise precautions; monitoring of exercise safety; complications of exercise interventions; scales to assess the effect of exercise. Of these pieces of evidence, 12 were “strong” and 14 were “weak,” 14 pieces of evidence were recommended in level 1, and 12 pieces of evidence were recommended in level 5.

Conclusion:

The following 26 pieces of evidence for exercise management of CVAD in patients were finally recommended. However, as this evidence comes from only one country, relevant factors such as the clinical environment should be evaluated before application. Further studies should include diverse populations from multiple countries to ensure the findings are widely applicable and to identify any potential variations in exercise outcomes for patients.