New study analyzes physical therapy for head and neck cancer survivors

Source: www.curetoday.com Author: Andrew J. Roth The aftermath of treatment for head and neck cancer can be particularly difficult, according to Ann Marie Flores. Flores, assistant professor, Department of Physical Therapy, Movement & Rehabilitation Science, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, conducted a pre-pilot study looking at early physical therapy education for this patient population. CURE interviewed Flores about her poster, which she presented at the 8th Biennial Cancer Survivorship Research Conference in Washington, DC. Could you first give some background about this study? How did it come to be? It was a spinoff of some studies that I began in breast cancer. I conducted a literature review of rehab needs of breast cancer survivors about 10 years ago and found that there was very little out there. Then, when I started a rehab oncology program at a previous institution, the patient population that were referred to the program tended to not be breast cancer patients, because they physically and functionally tend to do well in aggregate. Most of my patients referred were those with head and neck cancer. I went through the same process to look through literature critically to figure out what exists in terms of physical therapy and rehabilitation-based approaches. I've updated this over a long period of time and this poster is a systematic review of the quality of evidence. I combined this literature and data review with talking to a focus group of cancer survivors. What did you find? I asked the focus group [...]

Harvard doctor’s startup trains hospitals to rehab cancer survivors

Source: www.bloomberg.com/ Author: John Tozzi Sandra Wade, a Florida social worker, was diagnosed with an incurable form of breast cancer a decade ago. Two surgeries and years of chemotherapy left Wade, 61, with a damaged heart, chronic swelling in her left arm, spinal arthritis, nerve damage and fatigue, among other problems. “They didn’t send me home well,” she says. “They sent me home sicker than I began.” Survivors of strokes, heart attacks and traumatic injuries routinely get rehabilitation to improve their strength, energy and functioning. For cancer patients, it’s a rarity. It wasn’t always this way. “We used to have better cancer rehabilitation than we do now,” says Dr. Catherine Alfano, a program director at the Office of Cancer Survivorship at the National Cancer Institute. Before the 1980s, when most cancer treatment involved long hospital stays, survivors would get rehab before being discharged. As treatments improved and outpatient care became more common, Alfano says, “those programs kind of disappeared to a large extent.” Now the medical world is recognizing that the 12 million cancer survivors in the U.S. can benefit from more comprehensive rehab. Six years ago the Institute of Medicine called for giving every survivor a “care plan” to manage the lasting consequences of treatment, and this year the American College of Surgeons made such post-treatment attention to quality of life a requirement for its 1,500 accredited hospitals. Dr. Julie Silver, a Harvard Medical School rehab physician who survived breast cancer herself, is one of the pioneers trying to [...]

2011-12-18T12:35:12-07:00December, 2011|Oral Cancer News|

Targeted Exercise Improves Function, Lessens Pain in Head and Neck Cancer Survivors

Source: Abkhazia (www.abkhazia.com) Author: Ramaz Mitaishvili Progressive resistance exercise training following surgery helps reduce upper extremity pain and dysfunction in certain head and neck cancer survivors, according to Canadian researchers. "The trial," lead investigator Dr. Margaret L McNeely told Reuters Health, "demonstrates important improvements from progressive resistance exercise training on shoulder pain and disability, upper extremity strength and movement in post-neck-dissection head and neck cancer survivors." In the July 1st issue of Cancer, Dr. McNeely of the University of Alberta, Edmonton and colleagues observe that shoulder pain and disability are well known complications of surgery in such patients. In an earlier pilot study, the researchers found that progressive resistance exercise appeared to be beneficial, and in the current study they randomized 52 patients to the progressive approach or to a standardized therapeutic exercise protocol. At 12 weeks, intention-to-treat analysis showed that patient-rated disability and pain overall fell by 14.6 points in the progressive group compared to 4.8 in the standard group, a significant difference after adjustment. There were also significantly greater improvements in upper extremity strength and endurance in the progressive group than in the standard group. In addition, there was a trend towards reduced neck-dissection impairment and fatigue, and improved quality of life. Given these encouraging results, Dr. McNeely concluded that "the addition of progressive resistance exercise training to standard physical therapy should be considered in the rehabilitation of head and neck cancer survivors."

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