ESTRO 2024 - Abstract Book

S613

Clinical - Breast

ESTRO 2024

1 Habib Bourguiba University Hospital, Oncology radiotherapy, Sfax, Tunisia. 2 Hedi Chaker University Hospital, Psychiatry, Sfax, Tunisia

Purpose/Objective:

Fear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is often under-diagnosed in patients with cancer. At present, there are no validated scales to estimate its degree, or even a standardized management protocol. Music therapy (MT) as an art therapy and psycho-supportive technique has a numerous positive psychological effects. Could it have an effect on the FCR? To date, no study has addressed this topic in the literature. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of MT on FCR in breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant radiotherapy (RT).

Material/Methods:

This is a prospective mono-centric study with a control arm, carried out from June to December 2022 in the Radiation oncology department of Habib Bourguiba University Hospital in Sfax (Tunisia) and which enrolled two groups of patients with non-metastatic breast cancer undergoing adjuvant RT: a first group attending weekly MT sessions during their RT courses (MT arm) and a second group of patients who didn’t attend to MT sessions (control arm). Patients were asked about their feeling of FRC at different times of assessment: before the onset of RT (Baseline assessment = T0), during RT (after two weeks of RT = T1), at the end of RT (T2) and 2 months after the end of RT (T3).

Results:

Sixty patients were included in the study. These patients were equally divided between the two arms. Comparative analysis of patients and tumours characteristics showed no significant differences between the two arms. The frequency of fear of recurrence in both arms was summarized in the table below.

The evolution of FRC was almost stable between T0 and T2 then increased significantly at T3 in the MT arm. However, in the control arm, the evolution was marked by a stability between T0 and T2, followed by a slight rise at T3. Statistical analysis showed a significant increase between T2-T3 and T0-T3 (p=0.013 and p=0.006 respectively) in the MT arm. However, in the control arm, there were no significant differences between the different evaluation times. A comparative analysis of the evolutionary profiles at different evaluation times between the two arms showed also no significant differences.

Conclusion: