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. 2024 May 28;25(1):347.
doi: 10.1186/s13063-024-08138-1.

Educational telerehabilitation program for women with pelvic floor dysfunctions after gynecological pelvic cancer treatment: protocol study for a randomized and controlled clinical trial

Tatiana de Bem Fretta  1 , Gabriela Dassie Dacanal  1 , Pauliana Carolina de Souza Mendes  1 , Mirella Dias  2 , Cristine Homsi Jorge  3
Affiliations

Educational telerehabilitation program for women with pelvic floor dysfunctions after gynecological pelvic cancer treatment: protocol study for a randomized and controlled clinical trial

Tatiana de Bem Fretta et al. Trials. .

Abstract

Background: Educational and self-care measures are important for women after gynecological pelvic cancer treatment. Pelvic floor muscle training exercises (PFMT) are a conservative treatment for pelvic floor (PF) dysfunction. The purpose is to evaluate the impact of a telerehabilitation and self-care program on PF dysfunctions, reports of urinary incontinence (UI), and physical-emotional factors of participants post-treatment for gynecological pelvic cancer.

Methods: Two-arm randomized clinical trial: an intervention group (IG) will evaluate the effect of a telerehabilitation program on women undergoing clinical practice of radiotherapy for the treatment of gynecological pelvic cancer and a control group (CG) will maintain the routine. Primary outcome is the prevalence of reports of UI, which will be assessed using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF). The secondary outcomes will be the severity and impact of UI on quality of life, location and perception of pain intensity, presence and intensity of dyspareunia, vaginal stenosis, fecal incontinence (FI), and levels of physical activity. Statistical analysis will be performed by intention-to-treat, and multivariate mixed effects analysis will be used to compare results.

Discussion: Activities in the context of telerehabilitation using PFMT and self-care can represent a viable and effective solution to minimize the side effects of gynecological cancer treatment and improve women's quality of life.

Keywords: Brachytherapy; Dyspareunia; Neoplasm; Pelvic floor; Telerehabilitation; Urinary incontinence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The flowchart for selecting women for the randomized clinical trial, following the CONSORT
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Study evaluation schedule (SPIRIT). Source: According to the SPIRIT 2013 statement: Standard Protocol Item Definition for Clinical Trials
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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