Effectiveness of complete decongestive therapy for upper extremity breast cancer-related lymphedema: a review of systematic reviews.

ABSTRACT: Breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) remains a challenging condition impacting function and quality of life. Complete decongestive therapy (CDT) is the current standard of care, necessitating a comprehensive review of its impact. This paper presents a systematic review (SR) of SRs on CDT's efficacy in BCRL, and the components of manual lymph drainage (MLD) and exercise. A literature search yielded 13 SRs published between January 2018 and March 2023 meeting inclusion criteria, with varied quality ratings based on the AMSTAR II. A sub-analysis of CDT investigated the within group effect size estimations on volume in different stages of lymphedema. While a moderate quality SR indicated support for CDT in volume reduction, other SRs on the topic were of critically low quality. Larger effec

SUBMITTER: Gilchrist L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11496316 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature