Reflexology in oncological treatment - a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: As cancer and its therapy comes with a wide range of negative effects, people look for options to mitigate these effects. Reflexology is among the options of complementary medicine. METHOD: In March 2022 a systematic search was conducted searching five electronic databases (Embase, Cochrane, PsychInfo, CINAHL and Medline) to find studies concerning the use, effectiveness and potential harm of reflexology on cancer patients. RESULTS: From all 821 search results, 29 publications concerning 26 studies with 2465 patients were included in this systematic review. The patients treated with reflexology were mainly diagnosed with breast, lung, gastrointestinal and hematological cancer. Outcomes were mainly pain, quality of life, anxiety, depression, fatigue. The studies had moderate to low quality and reported heterogeneous results: Some studies reported significant improvements in above mentioned outcomes while other studies did not find any changes concerning these endpoints. CONCLUSION: Due to the very heterogeneous results and methodical limitations of the included studies, a clear statement regarding the effectiveness of reflexology on cancer patients is not possible. The current evidence indicates that reflexology is superior to passive control groups for pain, quality of life and fatigue, however, more studies with comparable active control groups are needed.

CT-based evaluation of tissue expansion in cryoablation of ex vivo kidney.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate tissue expansion during cryoablation, the displacement of markers in ex vivo kidney tissue was determined using computed tomographic (CT) imaging. METHODS: CT-guided cryoablation was performed in nine porcine kidneys over a 10 min period. Markers and fiber optic temperature probes were positioned perpendicular to the cryoprobe shaft in an axial orientation. The temperature measurement was performed simultaneously with the acquisitions of the CT images in 5 s intervals. The distance change of the markers to the cryoprobe was determined in each CT image and equated to the measured temperature at the marker. RESULTS: The greatest increase in the distance between the markers and the cryoprobe was observed in the initial phase of cryoablation. The maximum displacement of the markers was determined to be 0.31±0.2 mm and 2.8±0.02 %, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The mean expansion of ex vivo kidney tissue during cryoablation with a single cryoprobe is 0.31±0.2 mm. The results can be used for identification of basic parameters for optimization of therapy planning.