Trial reportBritish journal of cancer2018
Manual lymphatic drainage adds no further volume reduction to Complete Decongestive Therapy on breast cancer-related lymphoedema: a multicentre, randomised, single-blind trial.
Trial report in British journal of cancer, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative efficacy of various physical therapies on pain, fatigue, quality of life and functional impairment in breast cancer survivors: a network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of complete decongestive therapy for upper extremity breast cancer-related lymphedema: a review of systematic reviews.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2024Pooled it
- Effect of exercise on rehabilitation of breast cancer surgery patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Nursing open · 2023Pooled it
- Manual lymphatic drainage treatment for lymphedema: a systematic review of the literature.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The effect of the combined use of complex decongestive therapy with electrotherapy modalities for the treatment of breast cancer-related lymphedema: a randomized clinical trial.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2022Trial
- Efficacy of Inelastic Compression Devices with a High Stiffness in Older Breast Cancer Survivors with Moderate and Severe Lymphedema: A Prospective Interventional Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Potential Benefits of Complementary Therapies for Women with Breast Cancer Undergoing Oncological Treatment: A Systematic Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Women's and practitioners' views of early intensive decongestive lymphoedema treatment for breast cancer-related arm lymphoedema: a focus group study.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2025Article
- Which Physical Therapy Intervention Is Most Effective in Reducing Secondary Lymphedema Associated with Breast Cancer? A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Educational Review: Management of Lymphedema-Approaches, Evidence for Surgical and Nonsurgical Interventions.Annals of surgical oncology · 2025Review
- Is the Absence of Manual Lymphatic Drainage-Based Treatment in Lymphedema after Breast Cancer Harmful? A Randomized Crossover Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of manual lymphatic drainage in intensive phase I therapy of breast cancer-related lymphedema-a retrospective analysis.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2023Article
- Complete Reduction of Leg Lymphedema after Liposuction: A 5-Year Prospective Study in 67 Patients without Recurrence.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2023Article
- Advances in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer-related lymphedema.Breast cancer research and treatment · 2023Review
- What do we know about treating breast-cancer-related lymphedema? Review of the current knowledge about therapeutic options.Breast cancer (Tokyo, Japan) · 2023Review
- Rehabilitation interventions for the management of breast cancer-related lymphedema: developing a patient-centered, evidence-based plan of care throughout survivorship.Journal of cancer survivorship : research and practice · 2023Review
- Self-administration of complex decongestive therapy facilitated by the mobile application WeChat improves lymphedema and quality of life in breast cancer survivors: an observational study.Annals of translational medicine · 2022Article
- Adipose-derived regenerative cells and lipotransfer in alleviating breast cancer-related lymphedema: An open-label phase I trial with 4 years of follow-up.Stem cells translational medicine · 2021Article
- Breast edema, from diagnosis to treatment: state of the art.Archives of physiotherapy · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe investigated the comparability of Complete Decongestive Therapy (CDT) including manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) vs. without MLD in the management of arm lymphoedema in patients with breast cancer.
methodsPatients randomised into either treatment including MLD (T+MLD) or treatment without MLD (T-MLD) received treatment 2×weekly for 4 weeks. The primary outcome was the volume reduction (%) of arm lymphoedema at 7-month follow-up. The secondary outcomes were volume reduction after the end of treatment, circumference of the arm, patient experience of heaviness and tension, and health status.
resultsDespite difficulties enrolling the planned number of patients (160), 77 were randomised and 73 (38 in T+MLD, 35 in T-MLD) completed the trial. In both groups, the volume of lymphoedema decreased significantly, with no difference between groups (1.0% [95% CI, -4.3;2.3%]): the precision in the 95% confidence interval indicates that the efficacy was comparable; the mean (SE) changes at month 7 were -6.8%(1.2) and -5.7% (1.2) in the T+MLD and T-MLD, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences with respect to any of the secondary outcomes. The results were robust and the conclusion was not sensitive even to various alternative assumptions or analytic approaches to data analysis.
conclusionManual lymphatic drainage adds no further volume reduction in breast cancer patients.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.