Physiotherapy & Physical Rehabilitation

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. One of the most frequent complications of breast cancer treatment is lymphedema of the upper limb, which significantly worsens the quality of life of patients, which is why it is necessary to find effective methods of reducing edema. Aim of the study: Assessment of quality of life of patients after breast cancer surgery undergoing treatment of upper limb edema with the use of a comprehensive standard anti-edema therapy with ready-made compression products and a therapy modified by kinesiotaping. Material & Methods: We examined 65 patients with lymphedema of the upper limb following breast cancer surgery. Patients were divided into two groups. In group A a complex anti-edematous therapy with kinesiotaping (n=34) was applied, while in group B a compression sleeve was used (n=31). Patient’s quality of life before and after therapy was assessed using the LYMQOL questionnaire. Differences in upper limb circumference before and after the therapy were measured with a tape measure. Each patient underwent 8 complex antiedematous therapy sessions once a week for two months. Results: In both groups an improvement in quality of life was observed according to all domains of the LYMQOL questionnaire before and after rehabilitation (p<0.001). In both group A (kinesiotaping) and group B (compression) mean circumferences of the upper extremity were reduced (p<0.001). No statistically significant differences between the groups were found, except that the patients using the kinesiotaping method were more frequently observed to improve the quality of life in the domain of well-being than those using a compression sleeve (p=0.045). Conclusion: Both antioedematous therapies improved the quality of life and were an effective method to reducelymphedema in patients following breast cancer surgery, but the well-being was much higher in patients using kinesiotaping.