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CTRI Number  CTRI/2022/11/046955 [Registered on: 01/11/2022] Trial Registered Prospectively
Last Modified On: 11/12/2024
Post Graduate Thesis  No 
Type of Trial  Interventional 
Type of Study   Yoga & Naturopathy 
Study Design  Randomized, Parallel Group Trial 
Public Title of Study   Yoga in Head and Neck Cancer 
Scientific Title of Study   Quality of life, physical and mental well-being with Yoga therapy in Head and Neck cancer patients managed with surgery first as curative intent treatment: A Randomized Controlled Trial 
Trial Acronym  YoHNC 
Secondary IDs if Any  
Secondary ID  Identifier 
NIL  NIL 
 
Details of Principal Investigator or overall Trial Coordinator (multi-center study)  
Name  Dharma Ram Poonia 
Designation  Associate Professor 
Affiliation  AIIMS Jodhpur 
Address  Department of Surgical Oncology AIIMS Jodhpur

Jodhpur
RAJASTHAN
342005
India 
Phone  9958654196  
Fax    
Email  drdharmapoonia@gmail.com  
 
Details of Contact Person
Scientific Query
 
Name  Dharma Ram Poonia 
Designation  Associate Professor 
Affiliation  AIIMS Jodhpur 
Address  Department of Surgical Oncology AIIMS Jodhpur

Jodhpur
RAJASTHAN
342005
India 
Phone  9958654196  
Fax    
Email  drdharmapoonia@gmail.com  
 
Details of Contact Person
Public Query
 
Name  Dharma Ram Poonia 
Designation  Associate Professor 
Affiliation  AIIMS Jodhpur 
Address  Department of Surgical Oncology AIIMS Jodhpur

Jodhpur
RAJASTHAN
342005
India 
Phone  9958654196  
Fax    
Email  drdharmapoonia@gmail.com  
 
Source of Monetary or Material Support  
ASCO Conquer Cancer IIG Grant 2318 Mill Rd #800, Alexandria, VA 22314, United States 
 
Primary Sponsor  
Name  American Society of Clinical Oncology 
Address  ASCO IIG Grant USA 
Type of Sponsor  Other [ASCO] 
 
Details of Secondary Sponsor  
Name  Address 
NIL  NIL 
 
Countries of Recruitment     India  
Sites of Study  
No of Sites = 1  
Name of Principal Investigator  Name of Site  Site Address  Phone/Fax/Email 
Dr Dharma Ram Poonia  AIIMS Jodhpur  Department of Surgical Oncology
Jodhpur
RAJASTHAN 
9958654196

drdharmapoonia@gmail.com 
 
Details of Ethics Committee  
No of Ethics Committees= 1  
Name of Committee  Approval Status 
AIIMS Jodhpur  Approved 
 
Regulatory Clearance Status from DCGI  
Status 
Not Applicable 
 
Health Condition / Problems Studied  
Health Type  Condition 
Patients  (1) ICD-10 Condition: C021||Malignant neoplasm of border of tongue, (2) ICD-10 Condition: C020||Malignant neoplasm of dorsal surface of tongue, (3) ICD-10 Condition: C039||Malignant neoplasm of gum, unspecified, (4) ICD-10 Condition: C009||Malignant neoplasm of lip, unspecified, (5) ICD-10 Condition: C031||Malignant neoplasm of lower gum, (6) ICD-10 Condition: C029||Malignant neoplasm of tongue, unspecified, (7) ICD-10 Condition: C030||Malignant neoplasm of upper gum, (8) ICD-10 Condition: C022||Malignant neoplasm of ventral surface of tongue,  
 
Intervention / Comparator Agent  
Type  Name  Details 
Comparator Agent  Standard Therapy arm  Patient will receive standard treatment. active Yoga advise will not be advised by treating clinician.  
Intervention  YOGA therapy arm  Supervised yoga will be delivered. The CG will receive the standard treatment care as per the institution protocol. The YG will receive care during the whole length of treatment and same will be continued for 6 months post treatment. A standardized yoga protocol including postures (Asana) and breath control (Pranayama) practice will be administered. The session will include session of 45-60 min, 3 days per week. The yoga program will be structured and uniform and similar during all session. It will include warm up, breathing exercises, asanas and deep relaxation. All the participants will be encouraged to ensure the compliance. The same yoga instructor will be taking all the sessions. To improve the adherence, one of the consented and motivated primary caregivers will be trained for Yoga exercises. He/she will be present regularly during the course of treatment. One session in a week will be taken online. Videotaped materials and written manual for home will be provided to each participants. Patient or care giver will give weekly feedback during home based yoga practices on WhatsApp. Yoga therapy will be resumed- once the treatment plan confirmed. It will be continue throughout the course of treatment. During initial post-surgical days, patient will be participating if the operating surgeon and yoga instructor believe advisable. Once patient got discharged from surgical side, he/she will participate in regular sessions. 
 
Inclusion Criteria  
Age From  18.00 Year(s)
Age To  70.00 Year(s)
Gender  Both 
Details  Biopsy-proven treatment-naive oral cavity SCC getting treated upfront surgery, with ECOG PS 0-2, with adequate organ function to tolerate standard treatment 
 
ExclusionCriteria 
Details  Second Primary, Recurrent cancer. 
 
Method of Generating Random Sequence   Stratified block randomization 
Method of Concealment   Centralized 
Blinding/Masking   Participant and Outcome Assessor Blinded 
Primary Outcome  
Outcome  TimePoints 
To study the quality of life after adding yoga therapy in the head and neck cancer patients managed with surgery first curative intent treatment, using EORTC HRQOL Scales.   Baseline, Post Surgery, Post Adjuvant treatment, At 3 month follow up and At 6 month of follow up.  
 
Secondary Outcome  
Outcome  TimePoints 
To study the physical- Psychological well-being.
 
Baseline, Post Surgery, Post Adjuvant treatment, At 3 month follow up and At 6 month of follow up.  
To determine the serial change in the level of inflammatory markers.
 
Baseline, Post Surgery, Post Adjuvant treatment, At 3 month follow up and At 6 month of follow up.  
To systematically map the adverse events and assess the implementation barriers and self-sustainability.  Baseline, Post Surgery, Post Adjuvant treatment, At 3 month follow up and At 6 month of follow up.  
 
Target Sample Size   Total Sample Size="142"
Sample Size from India="142" 
Final Enrollment numbers achieved (Total)= "Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials"
Final Enrollment numbers achieved (India)="Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials" 
Phase of Trial   Phase 2/ Phase 3 
Date of First Enrollment (India)   04/11/2022 
Date of Study Completion (India) Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials 
Date of First Enrollment (Global)  Date Missing 
Date of Study Completion (Global) Applicable only for Completed/Terminated trials 
Estimated Duration of Trial   Years="3"
Months="0"
Days="0" 
Recruitment Status of Trial (Global)
Modification(s)  
Not Applicable 
Recruitment Status of Trial (India)  Closed to Recruitment of Participants 
Publication Details   Nil  
Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement

Will individual participant data (IPD) be shared publicly (including data dictionaries)?  

Response - YES
  1. What data in particular will be shared?
    Response - All of the individual participant data collected during the trial, after de-identification.

  2. What additional supporting information will be shared?
    Response -  Study Protocol
    Response -  Statistical Analysis Plan
    Response - Informed Consent Form
    Response - Clinical Study Report
    Response -  Analytic Code

  3. Who will be able to view these files?
    Response - Researchers whose proposed use of the data has been approved by an independent review committee identified for this purpose.

  4. For what types of analyses will this data be available?
    Response - To achieve aims in the approved proposal.

  5. By what mechanism will data be made available?
    Response (Others) -  drdharmapoonia@gmail.com

  6. For how long will this data be available start date provided 01-07-2023 and end date provided 01-07-2026?
    Response - Beginning 9 months and ending 36 months following article publication.

  7. Any URL or additional information regarding plan/policy for sharing IPD? 
    Additional Information - NIL
Brief Summary  

Cancer is growing in incidence and has become a significant health concern across the globe. Head and Neck Cancer is one of the common cancer in India, and the majority of them present in the advanced stage. Standard treatment for such patients includes surgery with radiotherapy. This extended treatment provides the cure, but treatment-related adverse events and lack of treatment tolerance lead to inferior quality of life, and physical and psychological ill-health, including chronic fatigue, pain, neck & shoulder stiffness, anxiety, and sleeplessness. Yoga is an alternative form of therapy, which has the potential to enhance the coping ability to receive complete treatment and help to curtail various treatment-related adverse events. 

Yoga is an ancient mind-body interventional known more than 5000 years back. It helps shift the attention of physical attributes to make a person aware of self by activating the interoceptive neural network, hence having the potential to improve well-being. Yoga has been used extensively to deal with chronic symptoms. Yoga has been found effective in improving the physical and psychological well-being of various cancer, including breast and colorectal cancer. The data showing the utility of yoga in head and neck cancer is limited. The study by Adair et al. showed yoga’s feasibility and preliminary efficacy in head and neck cancer patients. Based on the existing data and yoga has the potential to improve musculoskeletal impairment. 

The current study is a randomized controlled trial, where we intended to find out the benefit of yoga therapy. Yoga therapy starts at the onset of oncological treatment to the 24 weeks of the post-treatment period. To ensure adherence to the yoga protocol, we will teach yoga therapy to the caregiver in yoga sessions. Videotaped audio video and printed material will be provided. Weekly feedback during home-based yoga will be recorded using the mobile application. The experimental arm will receive standardized yoga therapy for a defined period. We will measure the quality of life, physical symptoms, psychological well-being, and the blood level of inflammatory markers at predefined intervals using the defined methodology. We will further analyze the adverse events of yoga and implemental barriers also. This would be a phase III study with a strong level of evidence, and positive results would establish yoga as an adjunct treatment to the oncological treatment of head and neck cancer. 

Objectives- 
1. To study the quality of life after adding yoga therapy in the head and neck cancer patients managed with surgery first curative intent treatment.
2. To study physical- Psychological well-being.
3. To determine the serial change in the level of inflammatory markers.
4. To systematically map the adverse events and assess the implementation barriers and self-sustainability.

Trial Design is Single blinded, Randomized, Controlled Trial; Parallel design with 1:1 allocation into Control and Yoga Groups (CG vs. YG). Stratified randomization will be done based on - sub-site (Buccal mucosa vs. Tongue), stage of the disease (stage I-III vs. Stage IV), type of reconstruction (locoregional flap vs. free flap), and type of adjuvant therapy. 
Participants- study setting: Study will be conducted in the oncology department (surgical & Radiation) and AYUSH, AIIMS Jodhpur. All consecutive patients with HNC between the age of 18-70 years, planned for curative-intent treatment with initial surgery with or without adjuvant treatment, will be assessed for inclusion in the study. Patients with recurrent disease, metastatic disease, and second primary will be excluded. Patients’ general fitness for yoga asana & breathing exercises will be assessed before randomization.
Interventions: 

Once the patient consents to take part in the trial he will randomize into one of the study groups, either CG or YG. The CG will receive standard treatment care as per the institution’s protocol. The YG will receive care as described during the whole length of treatment and same will be continued for 3 months post treatment. A standardized yoga protocol (Annexure-1) including postures (Asana) and breath control (Pranayama) practice will be administered. The session will include session of 45-60 min, 3 days per week. To improve the adherence, one of the consented and motivated primary caregivers will be trained for Yoga exercises. He/she will be present regularly during the course of treatment. One session in a week will be taken online. Videotaped materials for home will be provided to each participants. Patient or care giver will give weekly feedback during home based yoga practices.

Outcome Assessment timing- 
Baseline, Before adjuvant therapy, Completion of adjuvant therapy, 3 & 6 months post-treatment Outcome measures- 
● Quality of life: EORTC QLQ-C30 & QLQ-H&N35)
● Patient-reported outcomes to measure the physical and psychological well-being: Neck Dissection Impairment Index, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Chalder Fatigue Questionnaire, and Depression, Anxiety, Stress Score
● Assessment of objective assessment of physical function: Cervical- shoulder range of motion and Timed Up and test
● Plasma levels of markers i.e. IL 6, IL8, TNF-α and CRP levels will be estimated by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay
● Adherence and barrier of implementation will be recorded qualitatively
● Adverse events (B-E) using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events.

 
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