Sadoon, M., & Al-Atiyyat, N. (2013). The efficacy of manual lymph drainage for breast cancer–related lymphoedema. British Journal of Community Nursing, 18(Suppl.), S18–S22.
STUDY PURPOSE: To assess existing research on the effectiveness of manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) as a means of preventing and/or managing lymphedema
TYPE OF STUDY: Systematic review
DATABASES USED: Google Scholar, PubMed, CINAHL
KEYWORDS: manual lymph drainage, breast cancer–related lymphoedema
INCLUSION CRITERIA: Each article had to be available in full text, published in English from 2008 to the present, regarding patients with lymphedema after breast cancer treatment. Each article needed to define lymphedema, to describe the inclusion and exclusion criteria used for patient selection, the MLD technique used, the compression strategy used, and an evaluation of severity of lymphedema.
TOTAL REFERENCES RETRIEVED: Nine references were retrieved.
EVALUATION METHOD AND COMMENTS ON LITERATURE USED: Level of evidence based on the Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (Level 1: two systematic reviews; level 2: five randomized, controlled studies; level four: one cross-sectional descriptive study, one longitudinal observation study).
PHASE OF CARE: Multiple phases of care
Conflicting information regarding the effectiveness of MLD with variability in the application, duration, and frequency of MLD in the different studies
Authors suggested that MLD is unlikely to produce significant volume reduction when added to compression and exercise therapy. The characteristics of individual patients can affect the clinical outcomes.
Further research into the efficacy of MLD is needed.
The current standard of care for lymphedema is complete decongestive therapy, which includes MLD, compression, skin care, and exercise. Current research on individual modalities are conflicting regarding MLD. More research is needed.