SynthesisHead & neck2025
The Management of Head and Neck Lymphoedema: A 2025 Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Head & neck, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Management of Head and Neck Lymphoedema: A 2025 Systematic Review.Head & neck · 2025Pooled it
- The Contemporary Role of Oral Maxillofacial Surgeons in Head and Neck Reconstructions.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Lived experience of having lymphedema after treatment of head and neck cancer: a qualitative study.BMC cancer · 2026Article
- ASO Author Reflections: Improving Lymphedema Outcomes After Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery.Annals of surgical oncology · 2026Article
- Management of dysphagia in head and neck cancer: current and future perspectives.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Head and neck lymphoedema service provision in the UK: a survey of practice.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Article
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.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundHead and Neck Lymphoedema (HNL) is debilitating to many domains of patients' structure and function, yet it is the most poorly researched form of lymphoedema. This is due to the variety of signs and symptoms experienced by HNL patients, and this makes it difficult to formulate standardized staging classifications and treatment algorithms. The lymphatic drainage pathway within the head and neck is also highly variable. Currently, there is no gold standard therapy or treatment algorithm for HNL. This leaves many patients with the burden of undergoing suboptimal and unverified treatment to varying degrees of success.
methodsA PRISMA 2020 checklist adherent systematic review was conducted. Medline-OVID was queried with keywords based on HNL and its various management modalities. Title and abstract screening and subsequent full text screening were undertaken by two independent reviewers.
resultsThirty-seven studies encompassing a sample size of 1452 were discovered from 602 initial results. Overall, the evidence base was weak with many case reports and studies. Complete Decongestive Therapy provided the largest and most consistent data. Surgical methodologies appear to provide significant benefit when cases are selected carefully for appropriateness. Other dermatological and pharmaceutical methods are promising but suffer from a lack of evidence.
conclusionThe research base on HNL is limited by a lack of standardized severity scale, and the championing of such may encourage higher quality studies to be undertaken.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.