The effect of massage on immune function and stress in women with breast cancer — A randomized controlled trial

Depression, mood, stress, and Th1/Th2 immune balance in primary breast cancer patients undergoing classical massage therapy

“…Corner and Wilkie et al found no significant stress decrease after massage therapy [17,21]. Ahles [16][17][18][19][20]39]. This stress-reducing effect is also reflected by studies that have measured a reduction of serum or salivary cortisol after massage therapy in cancer patients [40].…”

“…Elevated NK cell counts, cytotoxic T lymphocyte counts, and overall lymphocyte counts have also been found after massage therapy [23,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32]. However, not all studies could demonstrate significant immunological changes under massage therapy [22,39].…”

“…This stress-reducing effect is also reflected by studies that have measured a reduction of serum or salivary cortisol after massage therapy in cancer patients [40]. However, most studies that tested massage therapy effects in cancer patients found no cortisol decrease after massage therapy, although there are a lot of studies that found a significant decrease of cortisol under massage therapy that did not involve cancer patients [14,16,22,23,39].…”

Working out of the ‘tool box’: An exploratory study with complementary therapists in acute cancer care

“…Research suggests there are beneficial psychological effects for patients attending for cancer treatment, lowering levels of anxiety, worry and depression (Billhult et al, 2009;Kutner, 2008). Utilising CTs to assist with specific symptoms, such as nausea and pain have also been investigated (Cassileth, 2007).…”

Estratégias de redução do estresse e seu impacto no sistema imune de mulheres com câncer de mama: evidências para a prática clínica

“…A atividade citotóxica dessas células é fundamental para os pacientes, uma vez que elas lisam as células tumorais e atuam no combate e monitoramento do crescimento das mesmas (BILLHULT et al, 2009;MUNDY-BOSSE et al, 2011;ANDRE et al,2013). O comprometimento da atividade das células NK leva a uma maior invasão de células malignas e é um indicador de envolvimento linfático e de metástases (BEN-ELIYAHU et al, 1999;WITEK-JANUSEK et al, 2008;ROBERTI, 2012 Diversos estudos apontam um crescimento na procura por terapias complementares em mulheres com câncer de mama (FELDMAN, 2011;HORNEBER et al, 2011;KANG et al, 2012).…”