Massage therapy alone and in combination with meditation for breast cancer patients undergoing autologous tissue reconstruction: A randomized pilot study

•This study evaluated stress relief in patients undergoing breast cancer surgery.•Postoperative massage therapy alone and combined with meditation was assessed.•Massage therapy had a favorable effect.•There was no additive effect from the addition of a meditation intervention.

This study explored whether massage combined with meditation is more helpful than massage alone for women recovering from autologous tissue reconstruction after mastectomy for breast cancer. Forty patients were randomly assigned to either massage therapy or massage plus meditation on postoperative days 1 through 3. Outcome measures were 1) visual analog scale (VAS) scores for stress, anxiety, relaxation, insomnia, alertness, fatigue, tension, pain, mood, and energy, and 2) Perceived Stress Scale-14 scores. Nineteen patients in each group finished the study. Preintervention and postintervention mean total VAS scores improved significantly in both groups (P < .001), but no significant difference occurred between groups.