New York, June 22 (IANS) Brain cancer patients who are able to exercise live significantly longer than patients who are not able to do so, says a new study.

The study by scientists at the Duke Cancer Institute in North Carolina, US, says exercise improves how cancer patients feel during and after treatment, and may also extend their lives, Xinhua reports.

It enrolled 243 patients with advanced recurrent gliomas - lethal brain malignancies that typically result in a life expectancy of less than six months.

The patients who participated in regular, brisk exercise five days a week for 30 minutes had significantly prolonged survival, living a median 21.84 months versus 13.03 months for the most sedentary patients.

"This provides some initial evidence that we need to look at the effects of exercise interventions, not only to ease symptoms but also to impact progression and survival," said Lee Jones, associate professor and senior author of the study.

The finding has been published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.