Trial reportIntegrative cancer therapies
Randomized Pilot Trial Using External Yarrow Liver Compress Applications With Metastatic Cancer Patients Suffering From Fatigue: Evaluation of Sympathetic Modulation by Heart Rate Variability Analysis.
Trial report in Integrative cancer therapies. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing iIndications for herbal medicinal products: a comparative analysis of EMA monographs and database records.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2025Pooled it
- Living well with advanced cancer: a scoping review of non-pharmacological supportive care interventions.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2026Article
- Prehabilitation for patients undergoing neoadjuvant treatment: results of a single-center pilot study using an integrative medicine day clinic.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Supportive care interventions in metastatic bone disease: scoping review.BMJ supportive & palliative care · 2024Article
- Prehabilitation in an Integrative Medicine Day Clinic for Patients Undergoing Neoadjuvant Treatment: Single-Center Feasibility Pilot Study.JMIR research protocols · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLiver compresses are commonly applied in complementary medicine during cancer treatment and are believed to have an energizing effect. We conducted a pilot study to investigate the influence of external application of yarrow liver compresses on the autonomous nervous system by analyzing the heart rate variability (HRV) in metastatic cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy and suffering from cancer-related fatigue (CRF).
methodsA randomized pilot trial was undertaken with patients suffering from CRF receiving palliative radiation therapy for bone or brain metastasis over 2 weeks. CRF patients were randomized into an intervention group receiving yarrow liver compresses and a control group receiving no external application. HRV was analyzed at the beginning (T1) and end (T2) period of the study during daytime (d) and nighttime (n) in both groups and quantified using time-, frequency-, and nonlinear dynamics domains.
resultsA total of 39 patients were randomized between September 2017 and August 2019 and a total of 20 patients (10 per group) were available for analysis. For both groups, significant differences in HRV analyses were found in the comparison over the timeline between the first and second measurement (T1d→T2d) during daytime. Specifically, the intervention group showed decreased HRV and complexity of heart rate regulation, indicating increased sympathetic activity at time T2d, whereas the control group showed increased HRV and complexity of heart rate regulation, indicating increased vagal activity at time T2d. Furthermore, the observed HRV analyses showed almost no significant differences between the 2 groups in a direct comparison at the beginning and the end of the study (exception: T2d).
conclusionsYarrow liver compresses led to increased sympathetic activity during daytime in the intervention group, whereas in the control group, which did not receive any external application, increased parasympathetic activity was observed.
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