Rehabilitation in Cancer

Cancer rehabilitation is a process that assists the individual with a cancer diagnosis to obtain optimal physical, social, psychological, and vocational functioning within the limits created by the disease and its treatment.The functional autonomy of patients with cancer is compromised. The severity ranges from negligible to profound at the extremes. Owing to the nature of the cancer trajectory, rehabilitative goals have been divided into preventive, restorative, supportive, and palliative.Cancer not only affects the quality of life (QOL) of the individuals with the disease but also that of their caregivers. The primary aim of anticancer treatment has been to cure patients of their disease. However, the American Society of Clinical Oncology has emphasized to its members the importance of (I) identification and management of specific patient groups requiring rehabilitation and (II) recognition of the point in the illness trajectory when treatments should focus more on symptom management and psychosocial support for the patient. There is also recognition that psychosocial care is an essential component of a comprehensive approach to the treatment and rehabilitation of people with cancer, both in the short term and long term.The McGill Cancer Nutrition-Rehabilitation (CNR) Program was set up to use an interdisciplinary approach to empower individuals who are experiencing loss of function, fatigue, malnutrition, psychological distress, and other symptoms as a result of cancer or its treatment to improve their own quality of life.