Whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post-covid syndrome – a case series
Background Post-Covid syndrome (PCS) has been an ongoing challenge since the COVID-19 pandemic. Relatively little is known about the effect of whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) in the treatment of PCS.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with PCS who were treated as inpatients with a...
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Hyperthermia |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02656736.2025.2488792 |
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| author | Jan Vagedes Thomas Breitkreuz Victoria Heinrich Mohsen Sobh Mohammad Oli Al Islam Katrin Vagedes Jan Mergelsberg |
| author_facet | Jan Vagedes Thomas Breitkreuz Victoria Heinrich Mohsen Sobh Mohammad Oli Al Islam Katrin Vagedes Jan Mergelsberg |
| author_sort | Jan Vagedes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Post-Covid syndrome (PCS) has been an ongoing challenge since the COVID-19 pandemic. Relatively little is known about the effect of whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) in the treatment of PCS.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with PCS who were treated as inpatients with a multimodal integrative therapy approach including WBH. The primary outcome comprised changes in Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) between T0 (at hospital admission) and T2 (four weeks after discharge), secondary outcomes were changes in Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS-D), Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile (MDP) and Covid-Associated Symptoms (CAS) between T0–T1 (at discharge) and T0–T2.Results FACIT-F yielded a significant increase (p < 0.001) between T0 (19.1 ± 8.4) and T2 (29.9 ± 13.0) (primary outcome), indicating an improved health status. While FIS-D and CAS scores improved significantly between T0 and T2, dyspnea parameters improved only between T0 and T1. 63% of respondents identified WBH as an effective treatment.Conclusions Study results provide preliminary evidence for potentially positive effects of WBH in the setting of this study, in which it is embedded in a multimodal therapy approach. The results should be substantiated by future RCTs to identify specific effects of individual therapy components. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1ed8b64b09444f34a41ca80e62648381 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0265-6736 1464-5157 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
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| series | International Journal of Hyperthermia |
| spelling | doaj-art-1ed8b64b09444f34a41ca80e626483812025-08-20T02:16:09ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Hyperthermia0265-67361464-51572025-12-0142110.1080/02656736.2025.2488792Whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post-covid syndrome – a case seriesJan Vagedes0Thomas Breitkreuz1Victoria Heinrich2Mohsen Sobh3Mohammad Oli Al Islam4Katrin Vagedes5Jan Mergelsberg6ARCIM Institute (Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine), Filderstadt, GermanyParacelsus Krankenhaus Unterlengenhardt, Bad Liebenzell, GermanyParacelsus Krankenhaus Unterlengenhardt, Bad Liebenzell, GermanyARCIM Institute (Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine), Filderstadt, GermanyARCIM Institute (Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine), Filderstadt, GermanyARCIM Institute (Academic Research in Complementary and Integrative Medicine), Filderstadt, GermanyParacelsus Krankenhaus Unterlengenhardt, Bad Liebenzell, GermanyBackground Post-Covid syndrome (PCS) has been an ongoing challenge since the COVID-19 pandemic. Relatively little is known about the effect of whole-body hyperthermia (WBH) in the treatment of PCS.Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data of patients with PCS who were treated as inpatients with a multimodal integrative therapy approach including WBH. The primary outcome comprised changes in Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) between T0 (at hospital admission) and T2 (four weeks after discharge), secondary outcomes were changes in Fatigue Impact Scale (FIS-D), Multidimensional Dyspnea Profile (MDP) and Covid-Associated Symptoms (CAS) between T0–T1 (at discharge) and T0–T2.Results FACIT-F yielded a significant increase (p < 0.001) between T0 (19.1 ± 8.4) and T2 (29.9 ± 13.0) (primary outcome), indicating an improved health status. While FIS-D and CAS scores improved significantly between T0 and T2, dyspnea parameters improved only between T0 and T1. 63% of respondents identified WBH as an effective treatment.Conclusions Study results provide preliminary evidence for potentially positive effects of WBH in the setting of this study, in which it is embedded in a multimodal therapy approach. The results should be substantiated by future RCTs to identify specific effects of individual therapy components.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02656736.2025.2488792Post-Covid syndromewhole-body hyperthermiaintegrative medicineanthroposophic medicinefatiguemulti-modal integrative therapy |
| spellingShingle | Jan Vagedes Thomas Breitkreuz Victoria Heinrich Mohsen Sobh Mohammad Oli Al Islam Katrin Vagedes Jan Mergelsberg Whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post-covid syndrome – a case series International Journal of Hyperthermia Post-Covid syndrome whole-body hyperthermia integrative medicine anthroposophic medicine fatigue multi-modal integrative therapy |
| title | Whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post-covid syndrome – a case series |
| title_full | Whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post-covid syndrome – a case series |
| title_fullStr | Whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post-covid syndrome – a case series |
| title_full_unstemmed | Whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post-covid syndrome – a case series |
| title_short | Whole-body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post-covid syndrome – a case series |
| title_sort | whole body hyperthermia as part of a multimodal treatment for patients with post covid syndrome a case series |
| topic | Post-Covid syndrome whole-body hyperthermia integrative medicine anthroposophic medicine fatigue multi-modal integrative therapy |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/02656736.2025.2488792 |
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