Effektivität der Manuellen Lymphdrainage in der Erhaltungsphase einseitiger, sekundärer Armlymphödeme - Eine Pilotstudie

Abstract

The average annual incidence of lymphedema following breast carcinoma treatment is approximately 16.200 cases in women and men, however only eleven studies of high quality on effective short-term or long-term therapy are currently available. Recent meta-analyses which address this topic are clearly deficient with regard to the evidence base for manual lymphatic drainage. The aim of this study was to review the efficacy of manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) in maintenance-phase complex decongestive physiotherapy (CDP) over a period of three months. 76 female patients were randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups (comparison of MLD, CDP, compression sleeve and Kinesio Taping (KT) method). The data were acquired in four measurements. The analysis of variance revealed a significant difference of 0,042 (p < 0,05) in the comparison of the four groups. A review of the variables within the four groups (Friedman test) showed a significant reduction (0,001) in the compression sleeve group. No significant differences were found in the pre-post comparison (Friedman test) in the MLD, KT und CDP group. In light of the absence of a significant difference, the results of the CDP, MLD and KT groups indicate a potential equivalence. The compression sleeve group showed significant superiority. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart - New York.