Original Research Article
Year: 2019 | Month: September | Volume: 9 | Issue: 9 | Pages: 172-182
Efficacy of Yoga and Naturopathy as an Adjuvant in the Management of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma
Kalpana Raghunath1, Ch. Sumathi2, Senthil J. Rajappa3, M.V.T. Krishna Mohan3, Uday Kumar2, Neelagiri Soumya4
1Department of Academics, 2Department of Naturopathy and Yoga - Addlife, 3Department of Medical Oncology, 4Indo-American cancer Research Foundation,
Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana.
Corresponding Author: Ch. Sumathi
ABSTRACT
To evaluate the effects of Yoga and Naturopathy interventions on hematological, biochemical parameters, psychological morbidity, conventional treatment related side effects and quality of life in patients with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma (NHL) undergoing conventional cancer chemotherapy. Adult patients with confirmed NHL were randomized to chemotherapy and Psychological counseling alone (control group) and chemotherapy along with Yoga and Naturopathy intervention (experimental group) and followed up. Subjects were assessed at baseline (before any intervention starts) and after 6 weeks, 15 weeks, 6 months and 9 months. Out of 136 patients enrolled on to the study, 36 patients dropped out even before they were randomized. The remaining 100 patients were randomized into two groups: 50 in control group and 50 in experimental group. Both the groups had similar baseline scores. All the results were analyzed by repeated measures of ANOVA. Statistically significant reductions in anxiety (p <0.0001), depression (p <0.0001), distress bothering (p <0.0001), conventional treatment related side effects (p <0.0001), and improving quality of life along with the improvement in the haemoglobin content (p <0.05) were observed in experimental group patients compared to control group. However, there was no significant change in Total leukocyte counts, platelet counts, serum creatinine, blood urea, serum total bilirubin, serum uric acid and serum lactate dehydrogenase levels. Our results demonstrate that regular practice of both the interventions i.e. Yoga and Naturopathy are beneficial for patients with early stage NHL. Thereby it indicates the possible use of Yoga and Naturopathy as an adjuvant therapy in NHL patients who are undergoing chemotherapy.
Key words: Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; Yoga; Naturopathy; Chemotherapy.