Imagery intervention for recovering breast cancer patients: clinical trial of safety and efficacy.

Imagery intervention for recovering breast cancer patients: clinical trial of safety and efficacy. J Soc Integr Oncol. 2008;6(2):67-75 Authors: Freeman L, Cohen L, Stewart M, White R, Link J, Palmer JL, Welton D Abstract In a phase I National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded clinical trial, 34 breast cancer survivors, six weeks to one year post-treatment, were recruited to participate in a 6-class, 8-week long imagery stress reduction program entitled "Envision the Rhythms of Life." Patients practiced imagery during and between sessions. Outcomes for quality of life and cortisol rhythm were assessed pre- to post-intervention, in two subsets of survivors (intravenous [IV] chemotherapy, or no IV chemotherapy). Thirty survivors completed the 8-week program. Quality of life outcomes demonstrated statistically and clinically significant outcomes for the functional assessment of cancer therapy-general (FACT-G) global index (p<.001), representing improvements in survivor quality of life related to physical, social/family, emotional, and function well-being. Survivors also improved significantly on the breast cancer (p<.001) and spiritual subscales (p = .008.) Brief symptom inventory (BSI) assessment reported significant improvement for the global index (p<.001) which included the categories of depression, somatization and anxiety. At eight weeks, cortisol rhythm, a biochemical indicator of stress and likelihood of cancer recurrence, p...
Source: Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: J Soc Integr Oncol Source Type: research