Cancer-Related Fatigue
Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a "persistent, subjective sense of tiredness related to cancer or cancer treatment that interferes with usual functioning." CRF affects nearly
70% of all cancer patients and is often one of the least-treated symptoms. Some survivors experience fatigue months or years after completing active treatment. There are many factors that contribute to fatigue, such as anemia, poor nutrition, inadequate rest, infection, stress, medications, and others. Likewise, successful treatment of fatigue may require several approaches.
Fatigue Management
While there are no standard medical treatments for fatigue, new tools exist for evaluating and coping with fatigue.
Symptom assessment tools include:
The Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI): a tool to rapidly assess the severity and impact of cancer-related fatigue. The six inventory items correlate with standard quality of life measures.
Physical therapists can play a role in reducing CRF by encouraging good nutritional intake, teaching energy conservation strategies and stress management techniques, and prescribing exercise. In fact, moderate aerobic exercise is the "treatment of choice" for CRF, but is underutilized.
Cancer Care |
