The objective of this study was to clarify the change of physical function after receiving rehabilitation program in hematologic cancer patients before and after HSCT.
Design of study:This was a retrospective study involving hematologic cancer patients who were scheduled to HSCT at National Taiwan University Cancer Center from December 2021 to December 2023. Participants:The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1)patients with hematologic cancer and planning to receive HSCT (2)consulted rehabilitation department and referred to physical therapy. We excluded patients who refused or did not cooperate with rehabilitation interventions. Intervention:The rehabilitation program provided by physical therapists started before HSCT until discharge.The program included evaluation, health education, therapeutic exercise and advice assistive device. Monitoring of physical function: Physical function was assessed using the de Morton Mobility Index (DEMMI) score at first and last rehabilitation program by physical therapists. Group categorization: Furthermore to investigate the degree of physical function decline would be associated with premorbid status, we divided patients into two groups according to their baseline. Impaired performance group (Impaired PF) was defined as 18 points of the raw ordinal DEMMI scores and those with 18, 19 points were classified into good performance group(Good PF).
Of the 179 patients, most of the patients survived (n=171) and few were dead(n=8). The average visit per week was 1.55 days. All patients showed no significant physical function change after HSCT. The first DEMMI scores of all patients was 71.85 and last DEMMI scores was 71.81. In the good PF group(n=73), the DEMMI scores were 94.04 and 85.18 respectively in baseline and discharge, which showed declined physical function .However, the impaired PF group(n=98) showed increased DEMMI scores, from 57.07 to 65.40.
Although the HSCT leads to decline in physical function, we observed that showed no significant change of physical function in all patients receiving rehabilitation program. However, impaired PF group showed increased physical function and decreased physical function was found in good PF group. The rehabilitation program during HSCT may be feasible to maintain and even regain physical function.
The rehabilitation program during HSCT could be effective in hematology cancer patients.
hematological cancer
physical function
