FPSM research group

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of an early physiotherapy intervention for the prevention of secondary lymphoedema on health-related quality of life in women who also received an education program after breast cancer surgery. Methods: One hundred and fifty three women diagnosed with unilateral breast cancer (stage IeII) treated with breast surgery, which included axillary lymph-node dissection, from Hospital Príncipe de Asturias, Alcal a de Henares, Madrid (Spain) were randomly assigned into two groups. Subjects in early physiotherapy group (n ¼ 76) received a physiotherapy intervention combined with a therapeutic education program; women in the control group (n ¼ 77) received only the therapeutic education program. Both interventions were delivered by two different physiotherapists of Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group at Physiotherapy Department of Alcala University. Health related quality of life was measured with EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaires in 5 assessments: after surgery just before group interventions started (A 1 ), after the 3-week group interventions finished (A 2 ); and a followup period in 3 (A 3 ), 6 (A 4 ) and 12 (A 5 ) months after surgical intervention. Results: Greater change in quality of life was observed for early physiotherapy group arm compared to control group, although no strong statistical evidence was found (p > .05) for most of the dimensions except for physical function and social function areas (p < .003). Conclusions: The control group with therapeutic education program reported a clear improvement in the perception of quality of life. Adding early physiotherapy to the therapeutic education program did not show statistically significant changes in the global score or in most of the dimensions, but showed an improvement in the physical and social dimensions.

Objective To determine the effectiveness of early physiotherapy in reducing the risk of secondary lymphoedema after surgery for breast cancer. Design Randomised, single blinded, clinical trial. Setting University hospital in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. Participants 120 women who had breast surgery involving dissection of axillary lymph nodes between May 2005 and June 2007. Intervention The early physiotherapy group was treated by a physiotherapist with a physiotherapy programme including manual lymph drainage, massage of scar tissue, and progressive active and action assisted shoulder exercises. This group also received an educational strategy. The control group received the educational strategy only. Main outcome measure Incidence of clinically significant secondary lymphoedema (>2 cm increase in arm circumference measured at two adjacent points compared with the non-affected arm). Results 116 women completed the one year follow-up. Of these, 18 developed secondary lymphoedema (16%): 14 in the control group (25%) and four in the intervention group (7%). The difference was significant (P=0.01); risk ratio 0.28 (95% confidence interval 0.10 to 0.79). A survival analysis showed a significant difference, with secondary lymphoedema being diagnosed four times earlier in the control group than in the intervention group (intervention/control, hazard ratio 0.26, 95% confidence interval 0.09 to 0.79). Conclusion Early physiotherapy could be an effective intervention in the prevention of secondary lymphoedema in women for at least one year after surgery for breast cancer involving dissection of axillary lymph nodes. Trial registration Current controlled trials ISRCTN95870846.