Trial reportBreast cancer research and treatment2025
Self-administered versus lymphedema therapist-administered complex decongestive therapy protocol in breast cancer-related lymphedema: a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial with three-month follow-up.
Trial report in Breast cancer research and treatment, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Factors Associated with Clinically Meaningful Pain Reduction Following Phase-I Complex Decongestive Therapy in Breast Cancer-Related Lymphedema.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Observational
- Comprehensive overview of management and risk assessment of breast cancer-related lymphedema: a multidisciplinary approach.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe aim of this study was to demonstrate that a self-administered complex decongestive therapy (CDT) protocol is not inferior to certified lymphedema therapist (CLT)-administered CDT in the management of lymphedema and health-related outcomes in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL).
methodsFifty patients with BCRL were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: (1) a CLT-administered CDT group (n = 25) or a self-administered CDT group (n = 25). CDT was a multimodal approach in two experimental conditions consisting of patient education, manual lymph drainage, multi-layer bandaging, therapeutic exercises and skin/nail care. Lymphedema severity was assessed using circumference measurement, and BCRL-related symptoms were assessed using a numerical rating scale. The following measurement methods were used to assess health-related outcomes: universal goniometer for range of motion (ROMs), hand grip dynamometer for peripheral muscle strength, disabilities of the arm, shoulder and hand (DASH) questionnaire for disability level, International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF) for physical activity level, the checklist for individual strength (CIS) for fatigue and upper limb lymphedema quality of life questionnaire (ULL-27) for quality of life.
resultsFollowing CDT, there was a significant decrease in lymphedema severity and lymphedema-related symptoms in both groups (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the groups regarding the mean difference in health-related outcomes following CDT (post-treatment-baseline) (p < 0.05). Lymphedema severity and symptoms remained stable during the 3-month follow-up periods in the CLT-administered CDT group (p > 0.05). There was a decrease in the severity of lymphedema, stiffness, heaviness and fatigue in the self-administered CDT group at 3-month follow-up (p < 0.05), while pain and tingling remained unchanged (p > 0.05).
conclusionThe present findings demonstrated self-administered CDT protocol is not inferior to CLT-administered CDT in the management of lymphedema and reduction of lymphedema-related disabilities.
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