Effect of medical qigong therapy on distress, fatigue, and quality of life in head and neck cancer patients undergoing intensity-modulated radiation therapy: A single arm clinical trial

[摘要] Background: Cancer of Head and Neck (HNC) is the 2 nd common cancer in India leading to around 8% of the global cancer mortality. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) is advanced method minimizing exposure of radiation to adjacent normal structures but is associated with higher fatigue indirectly elevating distress levels. Medical Qigong (MQ), a meditative mind therapy has numerous health benefits. The purpose of the current study was to investigate effect of MQ therapy on distress, fatigue, and quality of life in HNC patients undergoing IMRT. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was conducted on 16 Hospitalized HNC subjects undergoing IMRT aged 18–65 years. All the subjects performed Qigong Walk Cycle for 5 weekdays for 4 weeks from initiation of IMRT. Scores of Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), 6 min walk distance (6MWD), Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Head and Neck (FACT-HN) were documented at the baseline and at end of 4 th week and compared. Results: IBM SPSS Statistics version 23.0; Indian version of Windows was used for statistical analysis. The 16 HNC subjects majorly rural residents (62.5%) of mean age group 47.68 ± 10.25 years with tobacco chewing as prevalent habit (94%) with maximum cases recorded in stage III of the disease. The pre and post test score comparison of serum cortisol, BFI and 6MWD found high statistical significance with P = 0.001 while that of the total and all components of FACT HN was found to be significant with P ≤ 0.05. Conclusion: MQ therapy was effective in managing the levels of distress and fatigue thereby improving quality of life of all HNC subjects.

[学科分类] 内科医学

[关键词] Distress;fatigue;head and neck cancer;intensity-modulated radiation therapy;medical qigong;quality of life;serum cortisol;tobacco chewing