Efecto de las terapias complementarias en pacientes con linfoma

Abstract

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma had 544.352 new cases worldwide in 2020 in both genders according to the world health organization in the category of global blood cancers. It ranks 11th among other cancers in 2020. In terms of its death rate, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer had 259.793 cases in 2020 in both genders worldwide. In Spain, in 2020, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma within blood cancers was one of the highest diagnosed, ranking among the top nine positions. The estimated number of cases in Spain in 2020 was 66.733. Mortality from this tumor has been reduced since the end of the 1990s, at a rate of 3% less mortality each year, showing a clear advance in the efficiency of treatments. Conventional medical treatments for non- Hodgkin's lymphoma are chemotherapy and bone marrow or stem cell transplants. These therapies can have adverse consequences such as anxiety, depression, loss of physical health, and a high risk of heart failure; these difficulties lead to a deterioration of the quality of life. Prevention is necessary to avoid possible risks in the development of cancer in general, including a good diet, exercise and good quality of sleep. However, those patients who are already diagnosed need a treatment strategy to minimize the symptoms of their cancer or its treatment. The new concept of "Integrative Oncology", which uses complementary therapies together with conventional cancer treatments to control symptoms associated with cancer, is widely accepted throughout the world. Proof of this is the appearance of hospitals that base their outbreaks on this model or the inclusion of these therapies in different clinical guidelines agreed by experts from Oncology Associations or Medical Colleges to treat symptoms related to cancer. Therefore, the objectives of this International Doctoral Thesis were i) to compare, by controlling for confounding variables, the HRV of lymphoma survivors after their first year of final treatment with that of healthy subjects (study I). ii) to analyze the prevalence of anxiety among patients with Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; inspect the methods of data collection, the frequency of interventions, the types of instruments used to recognize anxiety in patients and the purpose of data collection, both in survivors and in patients who are in treatment and diagnosed with lymphoma Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (study II). iii) to detect the effects of an eight-week, 60-minute face-to-face Qigong program on psychological parameters and vagus nerve activity with respect to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and compare the results with a control group that did not participate in the program (study III). The results of this International Doctoral Thesis provide scientific evidence that supports the use of complementary therapies as a support tool for traditional cancer treatment with respect to patients with lymphoma. That helps with the improvement of anxiety and cardiovascular imbalance caused by cancer treatments and their state of health at the time of diagnosis. Finally, these results contribute to the knowledge of possible new ways to help the patient in their diagnosis, thus raising the need to include these complementary therapies as part of their oncological rehabilitation.