Feasibility of core cervical muscle group exercises and massage in the improvement of cervical spine curvature changes during radiotherapy for head and neck neoplasms / 肿瘤研究与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the role of cervical core muscle group exercise and massage in the change of cervical spine curvature during radiotherapy for head and neck tumors and the effect on set-up errors.Methods:A total of 40 patients with head and neck tumours receiving radiotherapy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Military Medical University from March 2020 to July 2021 were prospectively selected, and all of them underwent different degrees of changes in cervical spine curvature during radiotherapy. The cervical core muscle exercise and manual massage were used to do treatment intervention on the change in the cervical spine curvature. Changes in cervical spine curvature at the time of the curvature change of the cervical spine and at 1 d, 3 d and 5 d after the intervention were observed by using cone beam CT, and then data were recorded in 3 dimensions. The set-up error when cervical spine curvature changed was compared with that after the muscle group exercise and manipulation, and Pearson was used to analyze the linear correlation of set-up errors in each direction.Results:There were 23 males and 17 females, with a median age of 41 years (26-62 years). The significant improvement of cervical curvature at 1 d, 3 d and 5 d after the intervention could be found in 2 cases (5.0%), 20 cases (50.0%) and 39 cases (97.5%). Using the cervical 4 vertebrae as the matching standard, the set-up errors at the time of change in cervical spine curvature and at 1 d, 3 d and 5 d after treatment were (1.3±0.9) mm, (1.2±0.8) mm, (1.3±0.7) mm and (1.3±0.7) mm in the left-right direction respectively; (2.0±0.7) mm, (1.7±0.8) mm, (1.8±0.7) mm and (1.9±0.8) mm in the head-foot direction respectively; (4.9±0.7) mm, (4.6±0.7) mm, (3.4±0.7) mm, (1.7±0.6) mm in the anterior-posterior direction respectively. The set-up error in the anterior-posterior directions at 3 d and 5 d after treatment intervention was lower than that at the time of change in cervical spine curvature and at 1 d after treatment intervention (all P < 0.01), and that at 5 d after treatment intervention was lower than that at 3 d after treatment intervention ( P < 0.01). There were no statistically significant differences between the left-right direction and head-foot direction at each time point (all P > 0.05). There was no correlation between left-right direction and head-foot direction ( r = 0.049, P = 0.540), between left-right direction and anterior-posterior direction ( r = 0.041, P = 0.607), and between head-foot direction and anterior-posterior direction ( r = 0.003, P = 0.931) in terms of set-up errors. Conclusions:Core cervical muscle group training and massage could improve the change in cervical spine curvature, increase the repeatability of the set-up, which provides a favourable guarantee for accurate treatment.