Clinical profile of patients assisted in a physical therapy outpatient service in oncology of Sao Paulo city

DOI: 10.15343/0104-7809.20143804439447

Abstract

Advances in cancer treatment has been favoring higher survival rates, increasing demand of rehabilitation of cancer patients, being
physical therapy one of the areas in a higher growth. However, this population has very different profiles, demands and realities, requiring
the knowledge of its features to better develop action strategies and conducts in the area of physical therapy in oncology. The
objective of this study was to identify the clinical profile of patients assisted in a physical therapy outpatient in Oncology. One hundred
five medical records were analyzed for demographic and clinical data collection in a outpatient physiotherapy service of Sao Paulo
city, from August 2008 to July 2010, being 11(10.5%) excluded. Statistical analysis was performed using the test for equality of two
proportions to evaluate the relative distribution of variables, which were compared using the Mann-Whitney test. Among those 94
medical records, 63.8% (n = 60) were female (p < 0.001), with a mean age of 56.3 ± 13.3 years and they had a BMI of 27.09 ± 5.88
kg/m². The most prevalent medical diagnosis was breast cancer in 44.4% (n = 44; p < 0.05). Most patients were between the second
and the fifth year (33%; n = 31) of disease evolution. Surgery was the most common treatment (94.7%; n = 89; p < 0.001). The most
frequent physiotherapeutic diagnosis included vascular and lymphatic dysfunctions (87.2%; n = 82; p < 0.001) with complaints of
pain (55.3%; n = 52) and swelling (51.1%; n = 48; p = 0.559). It was concluded that the clinical profile of patients was characterized
by woman, over 50 years old, overweight in late postoperative breast cancer, exhibiting lymphedema and pain in the limbs.