Short-term effects of dry heat treatment (fluidotherapy) in the management of breast cancer related lymphedema: a randomized controlled study

Background To investigate whether fluidotherapy added to complete decongestive therapy (CDT) would provide additional contribution to edema reduction in patients with breast cancer related lymphedema (BCRL). Material and Methods Thirthy-two patients with unilateral BCRL were randomly divided into two groups: standard treatment with CDT only (Group 1) and CDT + fluidotherapy (Group 2). All patients underwent phase 1 CDT, which included manual lymphatic drainage, multilayer bandaging, supervised exercises and skin care for a total of 15 sessions, 5 times a week for 3 weeks. Only Group 2 received a total of 15 sessions application of fluidotherapy. Before and after CDT, patients were evaluated for extremity volumes and excess volumes, according to circumferencial measurements of the extremity. Arm pain was evaluated with Visual Analaogue Scale (VAS-Pain). Results Seventeen patients in Group 1 and 15 patients in Group 2 completed the study. Patients' demographic data and volume measurements were similar at the beginning of the treatment. Limb volumes of both groups were significantly reduced after treatment (p<0.001 for both group). Pain significantly decreased (p=0.001 for both group). No adverse reactions were recorded. The mean change in volume measurements and VAS-Pain scores of patients in CDT+fluidotherapy group before and after treatment were significantly higher than those in only CDT group (p=0.028, p=0.020 respectively). Conclusion Fluidotheray added to CDT reduced pain and edema severity more than standard CDT in the patients with BCRL. As a noninvasive, novel, and effective method, fluidotherapy may be a promising treatment modality for the treatment of lymphedema. MicroAbstract In this study, we aimed to investigate whether fluidotherapy added to complete decongestive therapy (CDT) would provide additional contribution to edema reduction in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). CDT alone and CDT+fluidotherapy in combined manner performed daily for 3 weeks. Fluidotherapy added to CDT treatment provided more improvement in pain and edema severity compared to standard CDT in BCRL patients without any side effects.