AACR II: Therapeutic Benefits of Yoga in Men Treated With Prostatectomy
Posted: Friday, June 26, 2020
Implementation of yoga therapy for patients with localized prostate cancer who are undergoing radical prostatectomy seems to improve the overall quality of life when compared with controls, according to a randomly controlled trial presented during the 2020 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting II (Abstract LB-292/15). “Yoga is feasible and safe and has promising benefits to physical, mental, and emotional well-being,” explained Dharam Kaushik, MD, of University of Texas Health, San Antonio, and colleagues.
A total of 30 men with localized prostate cancer were enrolled in the study. Patients were randomly assigned to receive standard of care (n = 15) or yoga (n = 15) prior to radical prostatectomy. Yoga sessions occurred in 60-minute intervals, twice weekly over 6 weeks prior to the procedure and re-commenced 3 to 6 weeks after surgery for another 6 weeks. Dr. Kaushik and colleagues collected blood specimens and quality-of-life self-report assessments from patients at baseline, prior to surgery, and 6 weeks after surgery.
The investigators found that after 6 weeks of yoga, improvements were observed in the Expanded Prostate Index Composite (EPIC) sexual domain, the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Prostate (FACT-P), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy–Fatigue, and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General as compared with controls. In addition, the greatest impacts of yoga for men with prostate cancer were seen in the EPIC sexual function (mean difference = 8.9 points), EPIC sexual bother (mean difference = 7.6 points), FACT emotional well-being (mean difference = 5.4 points), FACT functional well-being (mean difference = 8.3 points), and FACT social well-being (mean difference = 14.1 points).
Moreover, analysis of patient blood specimens following yoga therapy revealed decreased granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, monocyte chemoattractant protein, and FMS-like tyrosine kinase-3 ligand as compared with controls. These reductions in the inflammatory cytokines were statistically significant.
Disclosure: The study authors reported no conflicts of interest.
