Beneficial effects of animal-assisted visits on quality of life during multimodal radiation-chemotherapy regimens.

Background: Animal-assisted visits (AAVs) are commonplace in cancer centers, but there is little evidence of their usefulness.

Objective: To test the efficacy of AAVs in improving the quality of life in patients with head and neck cancer receiving combined chemotherapy-radiation therapy.

Methods: 42 patients consented to daily AAVs during the time they received therapy for head and neck cancer.