Therapy Dogs Supported Radiotherapy in Cancer Patients Treated with MR Linac – Preliminary Results.

High stress levels and anxiety during cancer therapy may cause higher rates of side effects. Adaptive radiotherapy modalities in a closed bore MR Linac with significantly long treatment times may cause excessive stress in patients which calls for supportive measures. One of these measures is animal assisted activity support program. In the literature, results of therapy dog supportive programs are very limited. There is no study concerning therapy dog supported radiotherapy with MR Linacs. During therapy dog visits, patients had time with the therapy dog for 15 minutes in a room prepared for this purpose, before their therapy sessions in MR-Linac device. In this study, Border Collie, Golden Retriever, French Bulldog, Labrador Retriever breeds dogs, carrying therapy dogs' properties were used. Patients had activities with therapy dog such as playing games, walking together, or patting under supervision of the dog handler. Patients responded to the Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire's Turkish version and Visual Analogue Scale to Evaluate Fatigue Severity (VAS-F) questionnaire in the first day of radiotherapy before and after meeting the therapy dog. During 2 more radiotherapy sessions, the questionnaires were repeated after patient's time with therapy dog. In addition to behavioral and mood state evaluation, heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure of the patients were recorded before and after therapy dog visits. All test results and physiologic parameters before and after meeting the dog were compared accordingly. Eight (26.7 %) females with the median age of 59.5 (45-70) and 22 (73.3%) males with the median age of 61.0 (28-83) were included to this study. Vigor activity results were significantly (p = 0.0005) higher after therapy dog visits in all 3 sessions comparing to results before the visit. VAS energy scores were higher after dog visits comparing to scores before the visit (p = 0.03). Tension anxiety one of the negative parameters of POM's test were in highest level before therapy dog visit and gradually decreased after all 3 visits and the results were statistically significant (p = 0.0005). Depression-dejection, Anger-hostility, Confusion-bewilderment and Fatigue-inertia showed significant decrease after dog visits (p<0.05). VAS fatigue scores were significantly lower after interaction with the dogs (p<0.05). Overall POMS values were significantly better after each 3 visits comparing to pre visit values (p<0.05). Heart rates of patients found to be lower after dog visits (p<0.05). Diastolic blood pressure recorded significantly lower after 2nd and 3rd dog visits (p<0.05). Our results support that animal-assisted activity in patients with cancer who are undergoing radiation therapy in MR Linac had positive impact on patients' stress anxiety and depression also improved physiological parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]