Physical therapy and rehabilitation for improvement of quality of life of breast cancer patients

e18711 Background: One of the most critical factors that cancer patients need to consider when it comes to their rehabilitation is the availability of effective and personalized rehabilitation programs. Aside from being a vital part of cancer rehabilitation, exercise can also improve the quality of life for cancer patients and help them maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle. The purpose of this study is to adapt an evidence-based exercise program and rehabilitation techniques for breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy and test the efficacy of this approach combining physical therapy, massage therapy, equine therapy (intervention group) compared to chemotherapy only (control group) for improving quality of life. Methods: This is two-armed, randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of physical therapy and rehabilitation for improving quality of life of breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy. The intervention program included physical therapy, massage therapy, equine therapy. Control group received standard care, treatment group received standard care plus intervention. All patients completed the quality of life questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ-C30) at baseline and at 4 months. All participants randomized to treatment group first received one-on-one consultation with oncologist, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) physicians and physical therapists. The intervention components include tri-weekly program that included physical therapy, massage therapy and equine therapy. Statistical methods (STATA) were used to analyze the data. We began data analyzes with observational statistics and independent variable analyzes. Results: Even though we did not find any difference in some aspects of intervention group during observational study, we saw a significant difference in DID model which showed significant improvement in data. Compared to control group, intervention group showed improved Quality of life (43.57***), improved PF (48.76***), RF (53.3***), EF (56***), CF (37.66**) and SF (52.85***). Another important observation is a fact that age and stage of the disease had no effect on quality of life or affected any aspect of this study, reasons of which has to be further analyzed. Conclusions: Our study proved that physical therapy and rehabilitation can be useful in improving the quality of life of breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.