461P - A randomized controlled trial of yoga in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients receiving chemoradiotherapy

Background

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide including in India. Around 80% of these are Non Small Cell Lung Cancers (NSCLC) detected in advanced stages where surgical resection is not an option and locally advanced stage patients are treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy.

Methods

A total of 90 patients of NSCLC Stages IIIA and IIIB participated in the study conducted over the last eighteen months. They were randomized and distributed between two arms in 1:1 ratio. Their pre-treatment Pulmonary Function Tests were recorded. Participants in Arm A underwent 30 minutes of yoga session daily besides standard fractionation radiotherapy with concurrent weekly chemotherapy. Participants in Arm B received the same schedule of concurrent chemoradiotherapy but without the daily yoga session. Their post-treatment Pulmonary Function Tests were recorded at six weeks post completion of chemoradiotherapy and compared with pre-treatment values.

Results

21 participants in Arm A recorded positive changes in their FEV1 values, compared to just 3 patients in Arm B (p=0.0002), suggesting daily yoga sessions during treatment can actually help in improvement of lung function among locally advanced NSCLC patients.

Conclusions

Further multi-institutional studies with more participants should be encouraged and yoga be more maistreamed and formally incoporated into standard therapeutic regimens for the management of locally advanced non small cell lung cancer patients.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

The author.

Funding

Has not received any funding.

Disclosure

The author has declared no conflicts of interest.