As shown in Table II, the questionnaire contains 30 items grouped into 5 functional domains
(physical, role, cognitive, emotional, and social), 3 symptom domains (fatigue, pain, nausea and
vomiting), 5 single symptom items (dyspnea, insomnia, anorexia, diarrhea, and constipation), 1 item
dealing with financial concerns,and a global health domain. The questionnaire employs 28 four-point
response scales (not at all; a little; quite a bit; very much), and 2 seven-point response scales for the
global health and QOL domains. Patients indicate the extent to which they have experienced specific
symptoms or functional limitations over the past week. In accordance with the EORTC QLQ-C30
scoring manual,all scores were linearly transformed into a numerical scale with values from 0-100. For
items relating to symptoms, a higher score represents a higher level of symptoms. For scales related to
function, a higher score represents a higher level of functioning. Assessment was performed before the
onset of HT, and after 8,16,24 and 32 weekly HT sessions.