Cancer-related fatigue treatment: An overview

Abstract

Cancer-related fatigue is a symptom of cancer where most patients or the general practitioners tend to misinterpret due to the insufficient understanding or knowledge of cancer-related fatigue (CRF). This paper will provide a better perspective for the patients and the health professionals on how to manage and handle CRF for both mild and severe fatigue patients. Articles were selected from the searches of PubMed database that had the terms "randomized controlled trials," "cancer," "fatigue," "pharmacologic treatment," and "nonpharmacologic treatment" using both Mesh terms and keywords. The authors have reviewed the current hypothesis and evidence of the detailed etiology of the CRF present in the literature for healthier management, directives, and strategies to improve the treatment of cancer-related fatigue. An algorithm has been blueprinted on screening, and management, of the CRF, and various kinds of effective treatments and assessment tools have been briefly studied and explained. Although many strategies seemed promising, the quality of randomized controlled trials is generally quite low in studies, making it difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of each self-care strategies. Therefore, future studies require better design and reporting of methodological issues to ensure evidence-based self-care recommendations for people receiving cancer treatment.