Supportive Care

The health benefits of yoga are many, but in the oncology setting, studies of the approach have focused primarily on women with breast cancer. However, a small, first-of-its-kind study by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania is exploring how yoga may also improve treatment-related symptoms in men who are undergoing radiotherapy for their prostate cancer. And the results, thus far, are promising.

A study of more than 2400 women with early-stage breast cancer has found that those who fasted 13 hours or more at night reduced their risk of breast cancer recurrence, findings that suggest prolonging the nightly fasting interval may offer a relatively safe nonpharmacologic way for women with early breast cancer to lower their risk of disease recurrence.