Psycho-Oncologie

Tumor rehabilitation and psychosocial support in GI cancer patients

Hong Zhu — 2026-02-03

Background: The disease progression of advanced gastrointestinal tumors is rapid, and traditional treatments often focus on tumor control while easily ignoring psychological needs and nutritional imbalances. Previous studies have shown that nutritional intervention and psychological support have potential value in improving the quality of life of patients in advanced stages, but there is still a lack of systematic evidence-based research in primary hospitals with relatively limited resources. Objective: To investigate, in hospitalized patients aged 18–80 years with stage IIIb/IV advanced gastrointestinal tumors (expected survival ≥3 months), using a randomized exploratory design, the difference between a control group receiving routine care and nutritional support and an intervention group receiving routine care plus standardized nutritional support, structured rehabilitation exercises, and patient‐centered psychosocial care, on the primary outcome of EORTC QLQ-C30 global health status (items 29 and 30, 0–100 scale), and on secondary outcomes including psychological status (assessed by SAS and SDS), nutritional indicators, and cancer‐related fatigue (assessed by RPFS-CV), with Bonferroni correction applied for multiple testing. Methods: A prospective randomized controlled design was used in this study, and a total of 100 patients with advanced gastrointestinal tumors who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled. They were randomly divided into an intervention group and a control group, with 50 patients in each group. The intervention group received humanistic care in addition to routine care and nutritional support. After 2 months, changes in EORTC QLQ-C30, SAS, SDS, nutritional indicators, and cancer-related fatigue were compared between the two groups. Independent sample t-test, paired t-test, multiple regression, and Logistic regression were used to analyze the primary and secondary outcome measures, and the χ² test was used to evaluate adverse events. A two-sided test with P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: After 2 months of intervention, the EORTC QLQ-C30 functional dimensions in the intervention group were significantly higher than those in the control group (all P < 0.05), and the scores for fatigue, nausea and vomiting, and pain were significantly reduced (all P < 0.05), with a significant difference observed before and after the intervention in the intervention group (all P < 0.001). Multiple linear regression showed that the intervention had an independent positive effect on the overall health status score (P = 0.002), with an increase of 4.75 points in the intervention group compared to the control group after adjusting for covariates. The SAS and SDS in the intervention group improved significantly compared to the control group (both P < 0.05). Among the nutritional indicators of the intervention group, serum albumin and NRS 2002 scores were significantly higher than those of the control group (P = 0.009, 0.002), and the RPFS-CV total fatigue score was also significantly reduced (all P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in adverse events between the groups (all P > 0.05). Conclusion: Humanistic care combined with nutritional support can safely and effectively improve the quality of life, psychological state, and certain nutritional indicators of patients with advanced gastrointestinal tumors in primary hospitals. It is worthy of further promotion and the conduct of longer-term, multi-center studies.

Impact of psychological interventions on the intraoperative outcomes in transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for hepatocellular carcinoma: A meta-analysis

Lingna Ren — 2026-02-06

Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the impact of psychological interventions on the intraoperative outcomes in patients undergoing transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for liver cancer. Methods: A comprehensive search was conducted using computer databases including PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), and Wanfang Database. Reference lists of relevant studies were also reviewed to ensure completeness. The quality of included studies was assessed using the Jadad scoring system. Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2.7, a statistical software provided by the Cochrane Collaboration. Results: A total of eight studies comprising 790 patients were included, comparing psychological intervention groups with control groups. The meta-analysis revealed significant differences favoring the psychological intervention group in systolic blood pressure (MD = −15.95 mmHg, 95% CI: −22.31 to −9.25, P < 0.0001), heart rate (MD = −10.68 bpm, 95% CI: −13.87 to −7.48, P < 0.0001), anxiety scores (MD = −2.39, 95% CI: −3.35 to −1.43, P < 0.0001), and the incidence of intraoperative anxiety (OR = 0.32, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.52, P < 0.0001) compared to the control group. Conclusion: Psychological interventions significantly alleviated negative emotions in patients undergoing TACE for liver cancer, contributing to better intraoperative stability in the control group. These findings suggest that psychological support may facilitate the smooth conduct of the TACE and potentially enhance overall treatment outcomes.

Nursing care intensity and cost profiles in oncology inpatients: A supportive care perspective

Haoyun Dong — 2026-02-11

Inpatient oncology care involves substantial clinical and supportive care demands, with nursing care representing a major component of inpatient workload and resource utilisation. This retrospective observational study examined nursing care intensity and cost burden among hospitalised oncology patients using routinely collected administrative data from a tertiary hospital. Nursing care intensity was operationalised as nursing cost per inpatient day to standardise workload across admissions with varying lengths of stay. Descriptive analyses were performed alongside non parametric comparisons by diagnosis type and discharge outcomes, and associations between length of stay and cost indicators were assessed using Spearman correlation analysis. A total of 17,331 admissions were included. Hospital cost and nursing cost demonstrated marked right skewness, indicating concentration of resource utilisation among a subset of patients. Admissions involving malignant disease were associated with significantly higher nursing and total hospital costs and longer hospitalisation compared with benign tumour related admissions. Nursing care intensity was relatively evenly distributed across low, medium, and high categories, while patients with unfavourable discharge outcomes experienced substantially greater cumulative and daily nursing care burden. Length of stay was strongly associated with cumulative nursing and hospital costs but showed only a weak association with daily nursing care intensity. These findings suggest that nursing cost per inpatient day captures aspects of care complexity beyond duration of hospitalisation and may support more responsive supportive care planning and nursing workforce allocation in inpatient oncology services.

Psychological care needs among hospitalized liver tumor patients: Insights from clinical profiles and comorbidity burden

Dan Zhao — 2026-02-11

Hospitalized liver cancer patients frequently face psychological vulnerability due to disease severity, multiple comorbidities, and intensive treatment. This study analyzed clinical data from 42 patients with confirmed liver malignancy diagnoses to identify psychosocial needs implied by hospitalization patterns and clinical burden. Length of stay (LOS), comorbidity frequency, and treatment intensity were examined as indirect markers of psychological distress, as prolonged hospitalization and high comorbidity burden contribute to anxiety and emotional strain. Patients had a mean LOS of 14.02 days and a median of 15.5 days (range 2–33, SD 8.09), with an average of nearly seven concurrent diagnoses, including cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis B, ascites, hypoproteinemia, and postoperative or treatment-related complications. These factors reflect elevated physical burden and functional impairment, recognized contributors to anxiety, uncertainty, depressive symptoms, and emotional exhaustion in psycho-oncology literature. Extended hospitalization further amplifies stress through loss of autonomy, sleep disruption, and financial strain. Findings emphasize the need for early psychosocial screening and structured psychological care, particularly for patients with prolonged LOS or high comorbidity burden. Clinical indicators can serve as practical triggers for distress assessment where formal psychological measures are not consistently available. Integrating psychological nurses within hepatobiliary oncology units may enhance patient support, optimize coping, and address emotional, social, and existential concerns. Despite the retrospective design and absence of direct psychological measurements, these results provide a framework for future prospective psycho-oncology research. Recognizing and addressing the psychosocial consequences of clinical complexity is essential for improving emotional well-being and delivering comprehensive liver cancer care.

Nursing resource utilisation in hospitalised cancer patients: Implications for psychosocially informed supportive care

Ningzhu Wang — 2026-02-12

This retrospective observational study analysed administrative data from 7448 hospitalised oncology admissions. Nursing cost was used strictly as a proxy indicator of nursing resource utilisation and was further normalised by length of stay to derive nursing resource utilisation per inpatient day. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise patient characteristics and utilisation patterns. Differences in nursing resource utilisation across discharge outcome categories were examined using non-parametric methods. The median length of hospital stay was 5.0 days (IQR: 3.0–9.0). The mean nursing cost per admission was 496.03 (SD 2502.83), with a median of 156.06 (IQR: 78.00–339.10). When normalised per inpatient day, the mean nursing resource utilisation was 39.91 (SD 28.26), with a median of 29.10 (IQR: 26.00–43.23), displaying a markedly right-skewed distribution. Nursing resource utilisation per inpatient day differed significantly by discharge outcome (p < 0.001), with higher utilisation observed among patients experiencing adverse outcomes, including death and ineffective treatment, compared with those discharged with improvement or cure. Nursing resource utilisation among hospitalised oncology patients is heterogeneous and closely linked to inpatient care trajectories. These findings highlight the importance of recognising nursing resource use as an indicator of care distribution and psychosocial care visibility, rather than economic burden, within inpatient oncology services.

Psychological factors and immune–inflammatory mechanisms in cancer-related organ transplantation: Toward a multimodal integrative framework

Guozhen Chen — 2026-02-03

Cancer patients who undergo organ transplantation after oncologic treatment experience complex biological and psychological stressors that jointly influence immune recovery and graft function. Psychological distress—particularly anxiety and depression—activates neuroendocrine and autonomic pathways that modulate cytokine release, inflammation, and immune tolerance. Evidence from psycho-oncology and transplantation studies demonstrates that heightened distress and low resilience correlate with increased interleukin-6, tumour necrosis factor-α, and C-reactive protein levels, impaired cellular immunity, and delayed post-operative recovery. This review integrates current findings from psychoneuroimmunology, transplantation medicine, and behavioural oncology to elucidate how donor characteristics, perfusion parameters, and psychosocial factors interact to shape outcomes in cancer-related transplantation. Routine psychological assessment using validated instruments such as the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), together with early interventions—cognitive-behavioural therapy, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and resilience training—may reduce inflammatory activity and improve recovery trajectories. Furthermore, emerging multimodal and machine-learning-assisted analytic approaches provide opportunities for personalised psychosocial care and risk stratification. Understanding these psych neuroimmune interactions supports the development of integrative, precision-based rehabilitation strategies within the scope of psycho-oncology.

Comparison of the intervention effects of different Tai Chi training intensities on fatigue-insomnia-depression triad in cancer patients: A bibliometric analysis review

Yu Sun — 2026-02-05

This study used a dual method of bibliometric analysis and clinical evidence integration to systematically explore the intervention effect of different training intensities of Tai Chi on fatigue-insomnia-depression triad (FSD) in cancer patients and the current status of research. By analyzing 41 high-intensity literatures from 2004 to 2024 in the Web of Science database, an intensity stratification model based on the ACSM standard was constructed (low intensity <3 MET, medium intensity 4-6 MET, high intensity > 7 MET). The study confirmed that the standardized mean difference (SMD) of moderate-intensity Tai Chi on FSD triad was 0.57, significantly better than low intensity (SMD = 0.22), and its mechanism was related to the reconstruction of HPA axis function (recovery to 89% of healthy controls) and a 39.6%–43.2% decrease in inflammatory factors IL-6/TNF-α; however, high-intensity training may weaken the benefits of sleep (PSQI score increased). There are key gaps in current research, such as 78.3% of the intensity was not quantified and the evidence for critically ill patients (ECOG ≥ 2) accounted for only 5.3%. The study finally proposed to construct a “movement-intention” dual-axis classification framework, and suggested conducting a multi-center intensity-stratified RCT and integrating biomarker monitoring to provide evidence-based decision support for Tai Chi’s precise intervention in FSD.

The role of pickleball doubles training in promoting post-traumatic growth and social support network in lung cancer survivors in a sports town environment

Hui Sun — 2026-02-10

Lung cancer is the malignant tumor with the highest morbidity and mortality worldwide, and survivors frequently experience chronic physical symptoms and psychological trauma that persist long after treatment. These challenges substantially impair quality of life and complicate long-term rehabilitation. Among them, 33%–45% of survivors develop clinical-grade anxiety or depression, the incidence of fear of recurrence reaches 62%, and approximately 46% withdraw from their original social networks due to changes in body image and decreased activity tolerance. Addressing both psychological adaptation and social reintegration therefore represents a critical unmet need in lung cancer survivorship care. This study aimed to synthesize and map existing evidence on the role of pickleball doubles training, situated within a sports town environment, in promoting post-traumatic growth (PTG) and strengthening social support networks among lung cancer survivors. A scoping review combined with bibliometric analysis was conducted using literature published between 2010 and 2024 and indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection. The review identified multidisciplinary research spanning oncology, exercise science, psychology, and community health, with increasing scholarly attention in recent years. The synthesized findings suggest that the integration of a health-oriented sports town environment with a low-intensity, highly interactive exercise modality may exert synergistic benefits by supporting psychological growth, fostering interpersonal connection, and facilitating social participation. Although direct empirical evidence specific to pickleball remains limited, the conceptual framework emerging from this review highlights its potential value as a rehabilitation-oriented, socially engaging physical activity. These findings provide a theoretical foundation for future intervention studies and support the development of community-based, psychosocial rehabilitation strategies for lung cancer survivors.