Yoga for Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy and Fall Risk: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Mené sur 41 patientes ayant survécu à un cancer du sein ou à un cancer gynécologique, cet essai randomisé évalue l’intérêt du yoga pour soulager une neuropathie périphérique induite par la chimiothérapie
BACKGROUND : Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common, debilitating side effect that worsens quality of life and increases the risk of falls in cancer survivors. Evidence of yoga’s safety and efficacy in treating CIPN is lacking. METHODS : In a randomized controlled study, we assigned breast and gynecological cancer survivors with persistent moderate-to-severe CIPN pain, numbness, or tingling ?4 (0-10 Numeric Rating Scale (NRS)) for ?3 months after chemotherapy to eight weeks of usual care or yoga focused on breathwork and musculoskeletal conditioning. Primary endpoint was treatment arm differences for NRS, and secondary endpoints were Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy/Gynecologic Oncology Group-Neurotoxicity subscale (FACT/GOG-Ntx), and Functional Reach test after week eight. We tested treatment arm differences for each outcome measure using linear mixed models with treatment-by-time interactions. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS : We randomized 41 participants into yoga (N = 21) or usual care (N = 20). At week eight, mean NRS pain decreased by 1.95 points (95% Confidence Interval [CI]= -3.20 to -0.70) in yoga vs. 0.65 (95% CI = -1.81 to 0.51) in usual care (P = .14). FACT/GOG-Ntx improved by 4.25 (95% CI = 2.29 to 6.20) in yoga vs. 1.36 (95% CI = -0.47 to 3.19) in usual care (P = .035). Functional Reach, an objective functional measure predicting the risk of falls, improved by 7.14 cm (95% CI = 3.68 to 10.59) in yoga and decreased by 1.65 cm (95% CI = -5.00 to 1.72) in usual care (P = .001). Four grade 1 adverse events were observed in the yoga arm. CONCLUSION : Among breast and gynecological cancer survivors with moderate-to-severe CIPN, yoga was safe and showed promising efficacy in improving CIPN symptoms.
JNCI Cancer Spectrum 2020