The effort builds on a cooperative, cross-cultural relationship between researchers, representing a shared mission to increase integration of yoga-based therapies into cancer treatment regimens to enhance quality of life.
Representatives of both institutions met today at M. D. Anderson, advancing a framework for future academic and clinical collaborations that will involve research, physician education and training, and personnel exchanges. In their future research, they plan to utilize brain-imaging technology in an effort to pinpoint precisely where changes take place in the brain and to confirm previous research that showed certain brain regions were affected by meditation-based programs.
"Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana has an outstanding history of clinical and research-based discoveries related to the effects of yoga on both healthy people and those suffering from cancer," says Thomas Brown, M.D., vice president for Extramural Programs at M. D. Anderson. "By sharing our expertise in multidisciplinary cancer care and translational research, together we can advance scientific understanding of how the mind works in concert with the body to benefit cancer patients around the world."
Under the leadership of Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., director of the Integrative Medicine Program and associate professor in the Departments of Behavioral Science and Palliative Care & Rehabilitation Medicine at M. D. Anderson, researchers from both institutions are currently studying the effects of Indian-based yoga on breast cancer patients undergoing radiation treatments. They are exploring whether participating in a
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Contact: Stephanie Dedeaux
srdedeau@mdanderson.org
713-563-0000
University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
28-Apr-2005