Implementation of a Physiotherapeutic Protocol in Hemato-Oncological Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Hematological cancers affect the organism with several dysfunctions and physiotherapy aims to support the prevention and treatment, providing a better quality of life. Objective: To verify the effects of a physical therapy protocol in individuals with hematological cancer. Method: This is a quasi-experimental study with participants from 18 to 50 years old, of both genders, carried out at the Hospital Compound of Santa Casa de Misericórdia in Porto Alegre. A physiotherapeutic protocol was applied for four weeks according to the individual hematological stage, which was evaluated for strength, general well-being and performance, in addition to fatigue, with the following scales respectively: Medical Research Council (MRC), Karnofsky, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG) and Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) 20 - Brazilian version. Results: Eleven individuals were included. A significant increase of the muscle strength (p=0.024) was observed. The assessment of general well-being and performance revealed no significant difference (p=0.192) and (p=0.368), as well as in blood tests (p>0.05). In the analysis of vital signs, only the respiratory rate showed a significant increase before and after the protocol (p=0.04). There were significant correlations between the Karnofsky and ECOG scales (r=-0.81), MFI and ECOG (r=0.64) and MFI and Borg (r=0.67) with p<0.05. Conclusion: The results showed that it is possible to use a physiotherapeutic protocol that matches the hematological profile and the clinical conditions of the patient, showing correlations between several functional variables evaluated, nevertheless, more studies are needed.