[The Effectiveness of Cryotherapy to Manage Taxane-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy in Patients With Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review].

Abstract

Background: Taxanes are essential chemotherapy agents for breast cancer treatment. However, patients frequently experience chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) during their course of treatment. Cryotherapy is a non-pharmacological approach that has been explored for its potential effects on preventing or improving CIPN. However, although several studies have reported on the effects of cryotherapy, no comprehensive review has been conducted to confirm its benefits.

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate the potential benefits of cryotherapy in terms of alleviating CIPN in patients with breast cancer undergoing taxane-containing chemotherapy.

Methods: This systematic review was conducted using databases including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, CINAHL, Medline, and Airiti Library, focusing on female patients over 18 years old with breast cancer treated using taxane-containing regimen. Key words searched were based on the PICO (patient/problem, intervention, comparison, outcome) framework, and cover articles in the literature published up to December 2023. In this study, the Jadad Quality Scale was employed to evaluate the randomized controlled trials (RCTs), while methodological index for non-randomized studies was utilized for non-RCTs.

Results: The 11 studies used in this analysis included five RCTs comprising 198 patients and six non-RCTs comprising 1,930 patients. Five of the studies reported cryotherapy may help prevent CIPN, five reported cryotherapy may alleviate CIPN symptoms, and one study reported no significant prevention or alleviation effect.

Conclusions / implications for practice: Cryotherapy shows promise as a practical and safe method the prevention / alleviation of CIPN symptoms during chemotherapy treatment. However, the related evidence is inadequate, indicating a need for more rigorous studies to establish stronger evidence.