Long-Term Yogic Intervention Improves Symptomatic Scale and Quality of Life by Reducing Inflammatory Cytokines and Oxidative Stress in Breast Cancer Patients Undergoing Chemotherapy and/or Radiotherapy: A Randomized Control Study.

INTRODUCTION: Inflammation has been associated with tumor proliferation and metastasis in breast cancer. Yoga is an ancient therapy that helps in reducing inflammation and improves the patient's quality of life (QoL) and fatigue. In the current study, we investigated the effects of long-term yogic intervention at different time points on the level of inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress, along with the symptomatic scale and QoL in stage II/III breast cancer patients. METHODS: Ninety-six stage II/III breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy were enrolled and divided into two groups, non-yoga (Group I) and yoga (Group II). Participants in Group II practiced yoga five days per week for 48 weeks. The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ30) was used to measure the QoL and symptomatic scale. Serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and oxidative stress markers, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), malondialdehyde (MDA), and nitric oxide (NO) were measured at baseline, 16, 32, and 48 weeks in both groups. RESULTS: Yoga significantly (p<0.05) reduced the level of IFN-γ, TNF-α, and MDA and improved QoL (p<0.001) and symptomatic scale (p<0.05) in Group II patients compared to Group I. NO was upregulated in Group I whereas in Group II, it was neither decreased nor increased. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that yoga may reduce levels of inflammatory cytokines and improve QoL and symptomatic scale in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy. Yoga can be an important additional therapy during cancer treatments to cope with treatment side effects including fatigue, depression, and immunological profile, which directly affects the patient's quality of life.

Long-term yogic intervention decreases serum interleukins IL-10 and IL-1ß and improves cancer-related fatigue and functional scale during radiotherapy/chemotherapy in breast cancer patients: a randomized control study.

PURPOSE: Yoga improved fatigue and immunological profile in cancer survivors and has been a promising alternative therapy. Breast cancer treatments are rapidly improving, along with their side effects. This article investigated the effect of the yogic intervention at a different time interval during radiotherapy/chemotherapy on the pro- and anti-inflammatory interleukins along with the cancer-related fatigue and functional scale among patients with stage II/III breast cancer. METHODS: A total of 96 stage II/III breast cancer patients were enrolled in this study and randomly divided into two different groups. Group I (non-Yoga) received chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy and group II (Yoga) received an additional yogic intervention. Both groups were followed up for a period of 48 weeks and blood was collected at the time of enrollment, 16, 32, and 48 weeks, and serum was isolated to measure the pro- and anti-inflammatory interleukins, fatigue, and functional scale questionnaire obtained at each time point. RESULTS: Breast cancer patients in group II showed a significant improvement (p < 0.05) in the functional scale and fatigue from baseline to 48 weeks compared to group I. The yogic intervention significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the level of pro-inflammatory interleukin IL-1ß and pleiotropic interleukin IL-10 in group II compared to group I. CONCLUSION: These finding suggested that improved fatigue and functional scale is associated with a lower level of IL-1ß and IL-10. Yoga may be an important additional therapy along with the cancer treatment to help the patients with cancer-related fatigue and improve their overall immunological profile.

Efficacy of Fluorescein Green Dye in Assessing Intra-Operative Parathyroid Gland Vascularity and Predicting Post-Thyroidectomy Hypocalcaemia- A Novel Prospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative hypocalcaemia (POH) after total thyroidectomy (TT) is a common complication. Parathyroid hormone (PTH), an accurate predictor of POH cannot assess intra-operative viability of parathyroid glands (PGs). Different dyes including indocyanine green or carbon nanoparticles have been used, but they are expensive and not widely available. Fluorescein green dye (FD) has been used as a low-cost alternative to study viability of various organs, but seldom tried in visualizing PGs. This novel study aims to assess utility of FD in determining parathyroid viability and predicting POH. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Total 72 out of 88 patients undergoing TT between January and December 2019 were included. Two ml of 25% FD was given intravenously before wound closure and attempts were made to visualize PGs under blue light. A numerical score was given according to the number of PGs visualized. Intact-PTH and corrected calcium were measured on postoperative day 1 and patients observed for POH. RESULTS: No PGs were visualized in 6 patients, 1 in 13, 2 in 30, 3 in 16 & 4 in 7 patients. Mean PTH was 6, 16.9, 31.6, 33.2 and 48.5 respectively. Corrected-calcium was 7.08, 7.7, 7.9, 8.5 and 8.5 respectively. All patients with score 0 received supplementary IV calcium, while 53.8% (score-1), 30% (score-2), 0% (scores-3, 4) received the same. Sensitivity, specificity and ROC of PG score of ≥2 on FD in predicting POH were 100%, 44% and 0.83 respectively. CONCLUSION: FD visualization of parathyroids post TT is feasible and can be used as low cost efficacious method to predict POH.

The Role of Magnesium in Post-thyroidectomy Hypocalcemia.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of hypomagnesemia in patients undergoing thyroidectomy and evaluate the relationship of hypomagnesemia with transient and severe hypocalcemia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective observational study of 50 patients undergoing thyroidectomy. Blood samples were collected pre- and postoperatively for calcium, albumin, magnesium, phosphorous and parathormone (PTH). Signs, symptoms of hypocalcemia and volume of intravenous fluids used perioperatively were documented. The statistical analysis was performed using STATA I/C 10.1. RESULTS: Preoperatively, twelve patients (24 %) had hypomagnesemia and one (2 %) hypocalcemia. On the first postoperative day, hypomagnesemia was seen in 70 % and hypocalcemia in 30 %. A similar trend was observed in the fall and rise of postoperative calcium and magnesium values (p = 0.41). Severe hypocalcemia was present in three patients (6 %). All three patients had a very low postoperative PTH (<2 pg/ml). Among them, two patients (66 %) had hypomagnesemia and their hypocalcemia responded to intravenous magnesium correction. Significant risk factors for postoperative hypocalcemia include a higher volume of fluid used perioperatively and low postoperative PTH (<8 pg/ml) (p = 0.01 and 0.03, respectively). CONCLUSION: Preoperative hypomagnesemia (24 %) was prevalent in this cohort of patients. Postoperative hypomagnesemia is a common event (70 %) following total thyroidectomy, and magnesium levels tend to mimic the calcium levels postoperatively. The cause of hypocalcemia post-thyroidectomy in this study is mainly a factor of parathyroid function and fluid status. Severe hypocalcemia is a rare event, and hypomagnesemia is associated in the majority of these patients. The role of magnesium correction to alleviate severe hypocalcemia needs to be further studied.