Trial Outcomes & Findings for Massage Therapy in Treating the Symptoms of Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Cancer (NCT NCT00253708)

NCT ID: NCT00253708

Last Updated: 2017-08-07

Results Overview

0=no pain to 10=most severe pain

Recruitment status

COMPLETED

Study phase

Target enrollment

39 participants

Primary outcome timeframe

From baseline to 1 week and from baseline to one month

Results posted on

2017-08-07

Participant Flow

Using oncology clinic electronic database, eligible patients were selected based on their clinical diagnosis (solid cancer with evidence of metastases) and whether they lived within 25 miles of the hospital. Patients were told that the authors were conducting a study of nonpharmacologic treatments intended to improve symptom management.

Participant milestones

Participant milestones
Measure	Touch Intervention (Massage Therapy) Patients received three visits by the professional massage therapists over the first week after the enrollment. Massage treatments were scheduled based on patient preferences, and the duration was between 15 and 45 minutes; both the duration and the amount of pressure was modified depending on patient comfort. A limited scope of practice was provided to the massage therapists that specified the allowed and disallowed massage modalities and techniques. Allowed techniques were both Swedish and non-Swedish massage including gliding/effleurage, gentle kneading/petrissage, compression, gentle stretching, rocking, light myofascial release, active and/or passive range of motion, warm or cool applications, and use of acupressure points as well as craniosacral holds thought to have calming and centering effects. No forms of friction, deep-tissue massage, or bodywork forms that required movement by the patients were allowed.	No Touch Intervention (Control) The authors wanted to separate out the effect of interacting with a massage therapist from massage itself, so the therapists performed no-touch control interventions, which had no healing intention. Although most of the therapists had experience with energy healing, the therapists were trained to avoid ''healing intention'' in the no-touch group by using distraction if necessary, created by counting backwards. For the no-touch control intervention, therapists were instructed to be with the patients between 15 and 45 minutes, depending on the patient's tolerance, and to hold their hands about 12 inches over the patient's body. In the usual-care control group, patients completed the same questionnaires but did not receive any visits from the massage therapists.	Usual Care (Control) Patients did not receive visits from massage therapists. Patients were intended to receive pain therapy, psychosocial assessment and care, and quality-of-life assessment
Overall Study STARTED	20	10	9
Overall Study COMPLETED	20	10	8
Overall Study NOT COMPLETED	0	0	1

Reasons for withdrawal

Withdrawal data not reported

Baseline Characteristics

Massage Therapy in Treating the Symptoms of Patients With Locally Advanced or Metastatic Cancer

Baseline characteristics by cohort

Baseline characteristics by cohort
Measure	Massage n=20 Participants Patients received 3 massage therapy visits from massage therapists in initial week with a duration of 15-45 minutes.NOTE: Intervention 'management of therapy complications' has not been included in any Arm/Group Descriptions. Patients were intended to receive pain therapy, psychosocial assessment and care, and quality-of-life assessment management of therapy complications massage therapy pain therapy psychosocial assessment and care quality-of-life assessment	No-touch Control n=10 Participants Patients received 3 no-touch therapy visits from massage therapists who provided no-touch without healing intention.Patients were intended to receive pain therapy, psychosocial assessment and care, and quality-of-life assessment management of therapy complications massage therapy pain therapy psychosocial assessment and care quality-of-life assessment	Usual Care n=9 Participants Patients did not receive visits from massage therapists. Patients were intended to receive pain therapy, psychosocial assessment and care, and quality-of-life assessment	Total n=39 Participants Total of all reporting groups
Age, Continuous	54.9 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 12 • n=5 Participants	54.9 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 10 • n=7 Participants	55.6 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 9 • n=5 Participants	55.1 years STANDARD_DEVIATION 11 • n=4 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Female	17 Participants n=5 Participants	9 Participants n=7 Participants	6 Participants n=5 Participants	32 Participants n=4 Participants
Sex: Female, Male Male	3 Participants n=5 Participants	1 Participants n=7 Participants	3 Participants n=5 Participants	7 Participants n=4 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized Hispanic	0 Participants n=5 Participants	1 Participants n=7 Participants	0 Participants n=5 Participants	1 Participants n=4 Participants
Race/Ethnicity, Customized White	19 Participants n=5 Participants	9 Participants n=7 Participants	8 Participants n=5 Participants	36 Participants n=4 Participants
Marital status: Married, Other Married	13 Participants n=5 Participants	6 Participants n=7 Participants	8 Participants n=5 Participants	27 Participants n=4 Participants
Marital status: Married, Other Other	7 Participants n=5 Participants	4 Participants n=7 Participants	1 Participants n=5 Participants	12 Participants n=4 Participants
Living alone	3 Participants n=5 Participants	2 Participants n=7 Participants	0 Participants n=5 Participants	5 Participants n=4 Participants
Not admitted to hospital in the last 12 months	8 Participants n=5 Participants	6 Participants n=7 Participants	4 Participants n=5 Participants	18 Participants n=4 Participants
Education: College grad or more	10 Participants n=5 Participants	6 Participants n=7 Participants	5 Participants n=5 Participants	21 Participants n=4 Participants
Employment: full-time or part-time	5 Participants n=5 Participants	5 Participants n=7 Participants	4 Participants n=5 Participants	14 Participants n=4 Participants
Household income: Not available/refused/don't know, <$50,000, >$50,000 Not available/refused/Don't know	3 Participants n=5 Participants	3 Participants n=7 Participants	1 Participants n=5 Participants	7 Participants n=4 Participants
Household income: Not available/refused/don't know, <$50,000, >$50,000 <$50,000	4 Participants n=5 Participants	2 Participants n=7 Participants	1 Participants n=5 Participants	7 Participants n=4 Participants
Household income: Not available/refused/don't know, <$50,000, >$50,000 >$50,000	13 Participants n=5 Participants	5 Participants n=7 Participants	7 Participants n=5 Participants	25 Participants n=4 Participants

PRIMARY outcome

Timeframe: From baseline to 1 week and from baseline to one month

0=no pain to 10=most severe pain