Patients with lung cancer commonly report a broad spectrum of symptoms driven by both side effects of treatment and aggressive progression of disease. As a result, growing evidence indicates that pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) can meaningfully improve exercise performance, health-related quality of life (QoL), fatigue, and dyspnea. The core objective of any PR program is to improve the patient's overall functional profile. In this study conducted at the Marius Nasta Institute of Pneumophthisiology, Bucharest, Romania, we assessed the functional profile of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) - specifically lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) - and explored its relationship with key biomarkers: programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1), anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK), and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Functional status was evaluated using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health-Rehabilitation Core Set (ICF-RCS). Exercise capacity was measured with the 6-Minute Walk Distance (6MWD) test, health-related QoL was evaluated using the validated European Organization for the Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Quality of Life 30-item Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30) questionnaire and anxiety levels were assessed with the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) instrument. The study identified a correlation between the patients' functional profiles and specific biomarker patterns. Based on these findings, we believe that incorporating biomarker information into functional evaluation could help build a clearer and more clinically relevant understanding of patient needs during PR, ultimately contributing to more personalized comprehensive care. We propose that future research should examine whether the relationship between biomarker status and functional, psychological, and QoL outcomes remains consistent following a structured rehabilitation program, and whether these biological markers can predict which patients are most likely to experience functional and emotional improvements. Such insight could prove valuable in guiding individualized rehabilitation strategies for patients with NSCLC.
Goncea et al. (Sat,) studied this question.