The performance of physiotherapeutic conducts in oncology patients interned in a pediatric intensive care unit: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE: The intervention of physical therapy in pediatric oncology is currently transmuting from a view based on the restriction of physical stress to an approach that advocates the practice of cardiorespiratory and motor interventions that provide a better prognosis for the patient. The objective of this study is to carry out a systematic review and to identify studies that address the performance of physical therapeutic practices in pediatric cancer patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU). METHODS: The stage of identification and selection of articles were carried out according to what was recommended by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyzes, on PubMed, Medline, and Scopus platforms, based on the PICO acronym, and were classified by the PeDRO quality scale. RESULTS: A total of 19,820 articles were found and six were acceptable according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study, accounting for a total of 634 patients evaluated in the respective study. CONCLUSION: There is a scarcity of studies that show the reality of physical therapy practice in pediatric and neonatal ICU, with a focus on cancer patients. Most of the articles found emphasize the physiotherapeutic approach in the management of ventilation in these patients. Within this context, they show positive outcomes with the highest number of discharges, reduced mortality, increased survival, and treatment of respiratory failure. In addition, the application of non-invasive ventilation modalities proved to be more prevalent and important, both in the variables mentioned above and in the prevention of complications, such as a lower rate of patients undergoing orotracheal intubation.