pneumatic compression pumps and found no significant difference between the two treatments. A further study (Johansson et al. 1999) measured the effects of compres- sion bandaging with or without MLD in arm swelling. The group receiving bandaging and MLD had a significant reduction in limb volume (P = 0.04) and decreased pain (P = 0.03), despite the fact that MLD was only given for 1 week. A recent study (Andersen et al. 2000) investigated the effect of eight sessions of MLD over 2 weeks, in addition to the standard programme of com- pression garments, skin care, exercises and information, in 42 women with breast cancer-related lymphoedema. The findings suggested that MLD did not contribute significantly to oedema reduction (Andersen et al. 2000), although the MLD treatment course was relatively short and the study group was limited to those with mild to moderate swelling (limb volume