Radiotherapy is essential to reduce the risk of locoregional recurrence in patients with breast cancer. However, several symptoms and adverse effects can be manifested during or after radiotherapy. There is evidence that the use of non-pharmacological interventions can reduce symptoms resulting from radiotherapy treatment in cancer patients. Dance/movement therapy (DTM), defined by the American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) as the psychotherapeutic use of movement to promote the emotional, social, cognitive and physical integration of the individual, could be a way of approaching to minimize the adverse effects of that treatment.

Conduct a review on the effects of dance therapy in patients with breast cancer during and/or after radiotherapy.

The research was carried out between September and November 2022, through searches in the Pubmed, SciELO, Cochrane Library and Google Scholar databases with the search strategy of the descriptors obtained in the Medical Subject Headings (MESH) of the National Library of Medicine with the combination of keywords and the following Boolean operators: ((Dance therapy or Therapy or Dance or Dance Therapies or Therapies or Dance or dance movement therapy) AND (Breast cancer or Breast Neoplasm or Neoplasm or Breast or Neoplasms or Breast or Breast Tumors)) AND (Radiotherapies or Radiation Therapy or Radiation Therapies or Therapies, Radiation or Therapy or Radiation). Studies that addressed the use of dance therapy in patients with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy were included. Exclusion criteria were studies involving patients with other types of cancer and studies made available in languages other than Portuguese and English.

A total of 3,966 articles were found in the four searched databases. After reading the title and abstract, 16 articles were selected and read in full. Of these, 3 articles remained in the study for analysis. The results presented in this review demonstrate that dance therapy can contribute to improving or reducing the perception of stress, anxiety, fear, fatigue, pain, internal reconnections, in addition to improving functionality, returning to activities of daily living and improving the quality of life of patients undergoing radiotherapy.

Dance therapy can help improve morbidities in patients with breast cancer undergoing radiotherapy.

Dance therapy is a clinically relevant intervention, but it has few studies in the oncology area. More studies are needed, with better standardization of the intervention, for better scientific evidence of the effects of dance therapy in these patients.