Effect of Taichi on cognitive function in Breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy: A randomized controlled trial

Objective: To evaluate the short-term effect of Tai Chi on cognitive function in breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy compared to the control group receiving moderate intensity walking. Design: Parallel, single blinded, randomized controlled trial. Setting: Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. Participants: 44 female post-surgery Breast cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Interventions: Based on the inclusion criteria patients were randomly assigned into two groups of 22 each. Group A received the Taichi intervention and Group B received the moderate-intensity walking for 30 min,5 times per week for 3 weeks. Outcome measure: Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Cognitive scale version 3 (FACT-Cog 3) Randomisation: Each random number was concealed separately within a small opaque envelope (SNOSE) and the subjects were equally allocated into two groups with an allocation of 1:1. Statistical analysis: Independent sample t-test for between the group comparison and paired t-test for within the group comparison. Results: There were no statistically significant results found between the groups (p-value > 0.05). Conclusion: The present randomized controlled trial showed that Tai Chi did not improve the cancer-related cognitive Impairment in Breast cancer patients compared to moderate intensity walking.