The impact of intermittent Fasting After Surgery for patients undergoing chemoTherapy (FAST Study)

Standard of care treatment for uterine and ovarian cancers is toxic and severely disruptive to the patient’s quality of life with the potential for devastating short and long-term side effects. Supportive medications for side effects associated with chemotherapy are often given to patients for self�administration at home to combat symptoms for several days following infusion, but there are limited interventions available to help patients further. New strategies are needed to help patients better tolerate these taxing side effects to improve patient outcomes and quality of life. Preliminary studies in cancer patients who underwent energy restriction during the time of chemotherapy suggest diet modification may impact treatment�related side effects and toxicity. There is limited data available on the impact of such a diet in gynecologic cancer populations during initial chemotherapeutic treatment after surgery. Similarly, the effect of alternate day fasting (as opposed to other published regimens) on chemotherapy-associated side effects and quality of life during front-line chemotherapy has never been tested. Here we propose a dietary strategy to study the impact of intermittent fasting in patients undergoing treatment for advanced uterine and ovarian cancers.