In a nutshell
The authors aimed to determine whether psychological therapy could relieve patients with fatigue (extreme tiredness) who are undergoing breast cancer radiation (uses high energy radiation to kill cancer cells by damaging their DNA) treatment.
Some background
Radiation is a treatment that has been proven to increase a patient’s chance of survival from breast cancer. It is not without side-effects however, as fatigue may begin to reduce the patients quality of life. This can even affect patients for up to 1 year following the completion of their treatment.
Previous studies have shown that psychological therapy can reduce cancer-related fatigue. Cognitive-behavioral therapy with hypnosis (CBTH) is one such treatment under investigation. This therapy involves relaxing imagery and suggestions for reduced fatigue.
Methods & findings
The aim of this study was to determine if CBTH could help patients with fatigue who are or who have previously received radiation therapy.
A total of 200 patients were evaluated at the beginning, end, 4 weeks and 6 months following their radiation treatment. 100 patients were allocated to CBTH treatment while the remaining 100 simply received regular counseling sessions to discuss issues. During radiation treatment, both groups had two sessions per week with their therapist. There was no significant difference in patient fatigue at the beginning of this study.
Overall, the patients within the CBTH group had a significantly reduced rate of fatigue at each of the follow-up time points. Furthermore, CBTH showed greater reductions in fatigue compared to behavioral therapy alone.
Muscle weakness within patients was also characterized as a sign of fatigue. Muscle weakness was not significantly lower in the CBTH group at the 4 week evaluation.
The bottom line
The authors concluded that CBTH was effective for the control of fatigue in patients with breast cancer who received radiotherapy for up to 6 months following their treatment.
The fine print
It is not known whether this treatment is effective for longer than 6 months following radiation treatment.
What’s next?
If you feel you may be experiencing fatigue followng breast cancer treatment, you should consult your doctor who may be able to recommend suitable psychological treatment, such as CBTH.
Published By :
Journal of clinical oncology
Date :
Jan 13, 2014
