Impact of an Educational Physiotherapy-Yoga Intervention on Perceived Stress in Women Treated With Brachytherapy for Cervical Cancer

Every year in France, nearly 3,000 women develop a cervical cancer. The average age of women diagnosed is 51. Uterovaginal brachytherapy is one of the reference treatments.

To allow this treatment, an applicator is first placed under general anaesthesia in the vaginal zone. Then, the pulsed Dose Rate (PDR) or high dose rate (HDR) uterovaginal brachytherapy requires 2-5 days hospitalization in an isolated room. Uterovaginal brachytherapy requires strict bed rest without movements allowed for the pelvic area until the applicator is removed.

Prolonged immobilization, the context of the illness and the intimacy of the area to be treated are all recognized sources of anxiety. According to a study, 40% of patients have post-traumatic stress at 3 months of treatment. A Danish team highlights the significant decrease in physical capacity during and after treatment.

Thus, as a recent literature review concludes, there is a real need to develop Non-Pharmacological-Interventions (NPI) to limit the aftereffects. It also seems important to provide support for self-management of symptoms.

Among NPI of interest, Yoga is a mind-body practice that can decrease perceived stress. A systematic review confirms that yoga can reduce stress during cancer treatment. This underlines the importance of proposing this practice for patients treated for all types of cancers and further evaluations on the effects of respiratory and meditation exercises. Another team showed the feasibility of respiratory exercise intervention in patients undergoing chemotherapy while also talking about mental health benefits. Finally, a reduction in perceived stress was achieved in women treated with radiotherapy for breast cancer through yoga intervention. A lot of work has been done with promising results without the result of a consensus applicable to all care situations.

Moreover, educational requirements are high in women treated to gynecological cancer.

Meeting these needs helps to improve quality of life, pain management and drug use.

Integrating Patient Educational Project (PEP) therefore seems relevant as an additional tool in patient empowerment. In addition, the fact that a combined Physiotherapy-Yoga-PEP intervention is feasible in women treated for breast cancer allows us to offer adjusted version in patients with brachytherapy.

The literature review thus invites us to propose the educational intervention Kine-Yoga-PEP in the very particular context of brachytherapy.