The appropriate degree of health-care provider surveillance
and the interaction of surveillance with patient education in the
early recognition of symptoms are poorly understood. Among
the many unanswered questions are the following: Is there value
to early diagnosis in providers regularly examining patients’
arms for edema or querying patients about subjective arm symptoms,
or can diagnosis be left to evaluation following patientinitiated
report of symptoms? How often do patients with arm
edema need to be evaluated by providers in the absence of a
change of symptoms?
There has also been virtually no systematic research in the
area of preventive strategies for arm lymphedema. The relative
efficacy of different preventive measures has not been evaluated,
nor has it even been shown that preventive strategies are of any
benefit. Randomized controlled trials or cohort studies are
clearly needed that evaluate the efficacy of preventive measures
versus no preventive measures, the efficacy of preventive interventions
specifically designed to prevent lymphedema after the
initial surgery or radiation treatment, and the efficacy of one
mode of prevention over another.
Arm edema has become one of the most feared long-term
complications of breast cancer treatment. Although all aspects of
care for arm edema of women with breast cancer have not been
fully addressed in the literature, certain aspects of treatment have
been well evaluated. Moreover, the literature supports interventions
aimed at early diagnosis and nonpharmacologic interventions.
These efforts toward the treatment of morbidities should
be implemented as soon as possible after treatment, when they
are more likely to be effective.
A number of questions about treatment efficacy remain that
warrant further investigation. For example, to what extent do
improvements in physical and psychosocial functions follow improvements
in arm edema associated with treatment? In addition,
the data that are available on the efficacy of treatments,
individually or in combination, need to be refined for specific
patient subsets, such as those with recent versus long-standing
edema, those with mild versus severe edema, and those with
edema refractory to treatment. Other questions include the following:
What is the duration of the resolution or improvement in
arm edema associated with each of the interventions? What is
the most effective means of long-term control of lymphedema
after initial treatment? Are there safe and effective pharmacologic
interventions for the treatment of lymphedema?
Studies to evaluate the use of interventions known to be
efficacious, and obstacles to their use, could be very important
for women with breast cancer treatment-related arm edema and
for health-care providers responsible for designing managed
care and other treatment protocols for women with breast cancer.
As survival continues to improve for these patients, quality-oflife
issues take on increasing importance. There is a critical need
for simpler, more effective interventions to prevent and treat arm
edema in women with breast cancer. In the meantime, the literature
summarized here can provide guidance to clinicians and
patients on what is and is not known about the management of
arm edema after breast cancer treatment.