Publications

To gain insights into the impact of upper limb (UL) dysfunctions after breast cancer treatment, this study aimed to develop a temporal convolutional neural network (TCN) to detect functional daily UL use in breast cancer survivors using data from a wrist-worn accelerometer. A pre-existing dataset of 10 breast cancer survivors was used that contained raw 3-axis acceleration data and simultaneously recorded video data, captured during four daily ...

CONTEXT: The prevalence of persistent pain among breast cancer survivors (BCS) is high, and it is unclear what distinguishes those with persistent pain from those without. Research suggests that differences in somatosensory function evaluated by quantitative sensory testing (QST) may be responsible. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to describe somatosensory profiles in terms of hyper- and hypoesthesia in BCS with and without persistent pain using ...

PURPOSE: This study investigated the accuracy of activity trackers in chronic lower limb lymphoedema (LLL) patients and in comparison to matched controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventeen LLL patients and 35 healthy subjects wore an activity tracker at the hip (Fitbit Zip/Inspire; hip-AT) and one at the wrist (Fitbit Alta/Inspire; wrist-AT) combined with a reference activity monitor (Dynaport Movemonitor; DAM), for 14 consecutive days. To ...

INTRODUCTION: Upper limb (UL) dysfunctions are highly prevalent in people after breast cancer and have a great impact on performing activities in daily living. To improve care, a more comprehensive understanding of the development and persistence of UL dysfunctions is needed. Therefore, the UPLIFT-BC study will primarily examine the prognostic value of different factors at the body functions and structures, environmental and personal level of ...

BACKGROUND: Studies on the concurrent validity of clinically applicable testing protocols for conditioned pain modulation (CPM) and temporal summation of pain (TSP) in breast cancer survivors (BCS) with persistent pain are lacking. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the concurrent validity of two bedside protocols for CPM and TSP in comparison to a respective reference protocol. The participants' preferences for bedside CPM and TSP protocols ...

BACKGROUND: Chronic cancer-related pain remains underdiagnosed and undertreated, although it affects 40% of cancer survivors. Recent insights suggest that cytokine signaling between immune, neuro, and glial cells contributes to chronic pain. OBJECTIVES: This study systematically reviewed cytokine levels and their relation to chronic cancer-related pain and, additionally, investigated differences in cytokine levels between cancer survivors with ...

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women and many women suffer from persistent physical and psychological complaints following their cancer treatment. Altered motor behavior at the shoulder region and upper limb, that is, alterations in movement patterns, spatiotemporal movement characteristics and muscle activation patterns, is a common physical consequence of breast cancer treatment, that can have a clear impact on daily ...

Pain is one of the most prevalent and long-term adverse effects described by people who have undergone breast cancer surgery. Non-helpful perceptions and thoughts about pain may contribute to the transition of acute to persistent pain. Adding educational interventions to the current physical therapy program in this population may help to improve or prevent persistent pain. Pain neuroscience education (PNE) is a type of educational intervention ...

Pain is one of the most frequent and persistent side effects of breast cancer treatment. Besides pain, breast cancer survivors (BCS) are prone to experience a myriad of other signs and symptoms related to altered somatosensory function, including for example, hypoesthesia, allodynia, and hyperalgesia, both at the local site of cancer and in remote body parts. Different breast cancer treatments can have a direct effect on somatosensory ...

The purpose of this study was to perform a systematic review of the available literature on morphological and functional brain changes measured by modern neuroimaging techniques in patients suffering from chronic cancer-related pain. A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science using different keyword combinations. In addition, a hand search was performed on the reference lists and several databases to retrieve ...