Background: Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a common adverse effect in patients with breast cancer (BC) during treatment. Patients experiencing CIPN develop neuropathic symptoms, which could lead to the modification or discontinuation of chemotherapy. Nonpharmacological interventions can be simple and safe, but evidence of their effectiveness in patients with BC experiencing CIPN is currently insufficient.
Objective: To compare and rank the effectiveness of nonpharmacologic interventions for CIPN in patients with BC.
Methods: We conducted a systematic search of randomized controlled trials registered from database inception until October 2022 in 7 databases. We assessed studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and evaluated the risk of bias. Network meta-analysis was conducted using Stata SE 17.0 (StataCorp, College Station, Texas).
Results: A total of 13 studies involving 9 nonpharmacologic interventions and comprising 571 participants were included. The results of the network meta-analysis showed that cryotherapy (standard mean difference, -1.22; 95% confidence interval, -2.26 to -0.17) exerted significant effects versus usual care. Cryotherapy (surface under the cumulative ranking area [SUCRA]: 0.74) was associated with the highest likelihood of effectively alleviating CIPN in patients with BC, followed by exercise (SUCRA: 0.62) and self-acupressure (SUCRA: 0.59).
Conclusions: Cryotherapy was the most effective nonpharmacologic intervention for alleviating CIPN in patients with BC. Large-scale studies are required to verify the present findings.
Implications for practice: This study provides evidence regarding the effectiveness of nonpharmacologic interventions for CIPN. Physicians and nurses could incorporate cryotherapy into clinical practice to alleviate CIPN in patients with BC.
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