NCT05067777

Massage for Prostate Cancer-Related Fatigue (mPROSTATE)

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: Phase 2
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 28 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Utah · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 45 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This phase II trial investigates the effect of massage in decreasing prostate cancer-related fatigue. Massage therapy has well known health benefits. This trial aims to find out if massage and touch therapies reduce fatigue due to cancer, and to learn if these therapies are better than traditional medicine or psychology for cancer related fatigue.

Detailed description

With over 15.5 million cancer survivors today in the United States, increased attention is being given to quality of life (QOL) after cancer treatment. Cancer-related fatigue (CRF), "a persistent, subjective sense of physical, emotional, and/or cognitive exhaustion related to cancer or its treatment that is not proportional to recent activity" (National Comprehensive Cancer Network, accessed Oct2020), is the most common and one of the most devastating symptoms among patients with cancer. CRF occurs across the spectrum of cancer types and treatments and has a negative impact on all areas of function, including mood, physical function, work performance, social interaction, family care, cognitive performance, schoolwork, and community activities. CRF can persist for months or years after cancer therapy is completed. CRF has been designated a high-priority research area by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and is 1 of the 5 highest-priority research areas designated by the NCI Clinical Oncology Research. This study is a phase II, 3-arm, randomized comparison of single-blinded once-weekly Swedish Massage Therapy (SMT) vs. Light Touch (LT) Control vs. unblinded waitlist control (WLC) for 6 weeks. We chose once-a-week sessions for 6 weeks to match the length of our completed National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) trial of SMT vs. LT for breast cancer survivors with CRF. Subjects who complete SMT or LT will be interviewed in person, by telemedicine, or by telephone at 6 and 12 weeks after the last study visit in order to evaluate the sustained effects of SMT and LT. We hypothesize that SMT will have a clinically meaningful benefit in improving fatigue, mood, and quality of life (QOL) in Prostate Cancer (PCa) patients, and that this will correlate with favorable changes in physiological parameters that may underlie CRF. Demographic, medical, clinical, and biological characteristics will be compared between groups of subjects randomized to SMT, LT, or WLC. Any treatment group differences in PCa grade and time since completion of radiation therapy, or baseline Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) fatigue score, may affect treatment-related change in fatigue or biological measures related to inflammation, or the post-treatment duration of benefit. While groups are expected to be similar on these characteristics, any variable with a p ≤ 0.10 difference between groups will be considered as a candidate covariate or stratification variable for statistical tests of the study hypotheses.

Conditions

• Prostate Carcinoma

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
PROCEDURE	Swedish Massage Therapy (SMT)	The therapist uses non-aromatic cream to facilitate making long strokes over the body. Swedish massage is done with the subject covered by a sheet, a technique called "draping." One part of the body is uncovered, massaged, and then re-draped before moving to another part. The primary techniques used in the research protocol therapy are effleurage, petrissage, kneading, tapotement and thumb friction. These techniques are performed in a very precise, carefully elaborated manner. The session starts with the subject fully draped in a prone position on the massage table and after approximately 22 minutes the subject is instructed to turn to the supine position. Finally, the therapist moves to the head area of the subject, begins working on the shoulders, neck and head using effleurage and thumb friction, and concludes by using light tapotement on the head. The total time for the entire massage is 45 minutes.
PROCEDURE	Light Touch (LT) Control	The protocol entails the same duration and sequence of procedures as the massage protocol, except that the therapist employs only light-touch hand placement on the subject's body. This condition isolates the effect of the mechanical intervention of SMT.
OTHER	Waitlist Control (WLC)	Subjects randomized to WLC will sit and relax for 45 minutes.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-06-17
• Primary completion: 2025-08-02
• Completion: 2025-08-02
• First posted: 2021-10-05
• Last updated: 2025-12-15

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States