A University of Texas Medical Study Shows Qigong Can Help Treat Breast Cancer

Scientists from the MD Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas have discovered that an ancient mind-body practice known as qigong can help women suffering from breast cancer who are receiving radiation therapy for their disease. Having been used across Asia for more than four millennia for disease prevention and spiritual health, qigong seems to not only aid patients with breast cancer to manage their stress but – by doing so – can positively affect the patients physiologically.

Director of the Integrative Medicine Program and professor at MD Anderson’s Departments of General Oncology and Behavioral Science, Dr. Lorenzo Cohen says, “At the start of the treatment, we also were especially interested to witness whether qigong would be beneficial to patients suffering from depressive symptoms.” Dr. Cohen added, “For cancer patients, it is essential that they manage their levels of stress since it can have a deep adverse effect on inflammatory profiles and biological systems.”

Recently featured in the medical journal Cancer, the new study is actually the first one to observe the effects of qigong in patients who are getting radiation therapy. It also is the first to include a follow-up period to see if there are any benefits in the future. According to the researchers, the positive results emphasize the benefits of body-mind practices in the treatment of cancer.

A total of 96 women all suffering from various stages of breast cancer (from stage one to stage three) were enrolled at the Shanghai Cancer Center Fudan University in Shanghai, China. The women were divided into two groups; one group was comprised of 49 cancer patients who performed qigong in a class for 40 minutes each week during their radiation therapy which lasted five to six weeks. The medical qigong class was made up of various exercises with synchronizing breath.

The group of 47 breast cancer patients was the control group. Their treatment involved conventional care minus the qigong classes. At the start, middle and end of radiation therapy, as well as, a month and three months later, the women in both groups were evaluated. The researchers rated the issues related to the quality of life of the subjects including their sleeping problems, fatigue, and depression symptoms.

The outcomes revealed that the patients in the qigong group experienced a gradual decline in their depression symptoms starting at the conclusion of radiation therapy and continuing over the post-radiation treatment follow-up three months after the end of the study. In the control group however, there were no changes in depression observed also three months after the end of the study.

In a media statement, Cohen explained “At the beginning of the study, we evaluated the depression symptoms of the subjects to see if women with high levels of depression would benefit more,” He added, “Women with low levels of depression symptoms, at the beginning of radiation therapy experienced a positive good quality of life over the course of the study and three months later regardless of what group they were assigned (the qigong group and the control group). In the control group, however, the women who suffered from high depression symptoms experienced the worst levels of fatigue, depression symptoms, fatigue, and general quality of life that were meaningfully enhanced for the patient subjects in the qigong group.”

Because it was after the end of radiation therapy that qigong benefits were mainly observed, the researchers believed that qigong can really facilitate the process of recovery, particularly for patients with breast cancer who had relevant symptoms of depression at the beginning of radiation therapy.

Researchers are recording some of the ways qigong seem to treat medical conditions. For instance, the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias published a study which showed that patients suffering from early stage dementia can retard their psychological, mental, and physical degeneration by participating in non-drug treatments that integrate traditional qigong, support groups, and counseling. The researchers actually saw that many of the benefits of this approach can be compared to that achieved with anti-dementia drugs (that often come with severe side effects).

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