Loading
Arm or leg swelling after lymph node surgery or radiotherapy is managed with compression garments, specialised massage, skin care and exercise. Weight lifting, once forbidden, was shown in a randomised trial to reduce flare-ups rather than cause them.
Lymphoedema follows axillary or groin node dissection and radiotherapy in a substantial minority of patients. Complete decongestive therapy combines manual lymphatic drainage, multilayer bandaging then fitted compression garments, skin care and exercise, and reduces limb volume in randomised and cohort studies; compression is the element with the most consistent effect, and pneumatic pumps add modestly. The PAL trial of 141 breast cancer survivors with lymphoedema (Schmitz et al., NEJM 2009) found that slowly progressive weight lifting halved the proportion with exacerbations and improved strength, overturning decades of advice to avoid lifting. Newer options include lymphaticovenous anastomosis and vascularised lymph node transfer for selected patients, and prevention by axillary reverse mapping and sentinel node biopsy instead of dissection. Reflexology, laser and herbal diuretics have no reliable evidence.
External compression and rhythmic muscle activity increase lymphatic return and prevent re-accumulation; resistance exercise strengthens the muscle pump and improves the limb's tolerance of load.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"Compression, decongestive therapy and exercise for lymphoedema" OR ABSTRACT:"Compression, decongestive therapy and exercise for lymphoedema") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Compression, decongestive therapy and exercise for lymphoedema, not a curated reading list.
Shares The devices that do the restoring, and who pays for them, What recovery costs in the UK, and what it does not, Body image after cancer treatment: how it is measured, what drives it, and what helps and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Supportive care and survivorship roadmap: making treatment bearable → proving it extends life → caring for tens of millions afterwards, Survivorship care and late-effects surveillance, Late effects and survivorship toxicity, Survivorship and late effects are neglected and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Scars, stiffness and contracture: shoulders, necks and jaws, Late effects and survivorship toxicity, Survivorship and late effects are neglected and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Exercise & lifestyle oncology, Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Supportive care and survivorship roadmap: making treatment bearable → proving it extends life → caring for tens of millions afterwards, Late effects and survivorship toxicity, Survivorship and late effects are neglected, Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Exercise & lifestyle oncology, Survivorship and late effects are neglected, Breast cancer (all types), Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Reflexology and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Exercise & lifestyle oncology, HR-positive / HER2-negative breast cancer and the tags complementary, supportive-care.