To be eligible for the review, a study had to be randomised and examine clinical outcomes that related to classical massage in a supportive palliative cancer care setting. Supportive or palliative cancer care was defined as the application of a treatment neither aimed at preventing or curing cancer nor used for the purpose of rehabilitation. Classical massage was defined as a manual treatment using effleurage, friction, percussion and petrissage. Control groups could receive any type of treatment or placebo or no treatment. Studies concerned with reflexology, hand massage, shiatsu, acupressure, lymph drainage or other forms of non-classical massage were excluded. Trials that combined use of massage with similar treatments in the experimental group and trials where lay people were taught to perform massages were excluded.
Included trials mostly had samples of patients with various types of cancer; some focused on women with breast cancer or on children. Patients in some trials underwent treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or bone marrow transplant. There was variety in the number and duration of massage sessions and in the comparators chosen. A range of outcomes were evaluated; pain was assessed in most trials.
The author stated neither how studies were selected for the review nor how many reviewers performed the selection.