Effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation for fatigue management in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer receiving chemoradiotherapy

This study retrospectively investigated the effect of neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) for fatigue management in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer (ALC) receiving chemoradiotherapy. A total of 60 eligible patients with ALC receiving chemoradiotherapy were included. These patients were assigned equally to a treatment group and a control group. Patients in the treatment group received NMES therapy and were treated for a total of 8 weeks, while the patients in the control group did not receive NMES therapy. The primary outcome was fatigue, measured by the multidimensional fatigue inventory (MFI). The secondary outcomes included anxiety and depression, measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and sleep quality, measured by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). All outcomes were evaluated before and after 8-week NMES treatment After 8-week NMES treatment, the patients in the treatment group did not exert better effect than patients in the control group in fatigue relief, measured by the MFI score, anxiety and depression decrease, assessed by HADS, and sleep quality improvement, evaluated by PSQI. The results of this study demonstrate that NMES may not benefit for fatigue relief in patients with ALC receiving chemoradiotherapy. Future studies should still focus on this topic and warrant these results.