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Lymphoedema and health-related quality of life by early treatment in long-term survivors of breast cancer. A comparative retrospective study up to 15 years after diagnosis

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose was to compare progression/regression of arm lymphoedema, health-related quality of life and medical background data among women who discontinued their treatment (non-continued treatment group, NCTG) with these factors among women who continued treatment (continued treatment group, CTG).

Methods

Seventy-two women were included in the NCTG and 58 women in the CTG. Women in the NCTG were invited to an examination and measurement of affected arm volume at the clinic in 2008. Medical background data and arm volume values, measured using the water displacement method, were collected from patient records and the Breast Cancer Quality Register of the Uppsala Örebro Region. The functional assessment of cancer therapy for breast cancer (FACT-B) was used to assess health-related quality of life in both groups.

Results

There were no differences with regard to progression/regression of arm lymphoedema or health-related quality of life. The CTG had experienced more advanced disease and received more extensive surgical and oncological treatment. The CTG had significantly larger arm volume due to lymphoedema at diagnosis (mean 422 ml) compared to the NCTG (mean 283 ml; p < 0.001), and at the last visit at the clinic (CTG mean 414 ml versus NCTG mean 239 ml; p < 0.001).

Conclusions

The results indicate that there might be a spontaneous regression of lymphoedemas in the NCTG but there is a need for more research to make it possible to draw firm conclusions regarding this.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the Swedish Oedema Association and the Research Foundation of the Department of Oncology at Uppsala University for sponsoring the study.

Conflict of interest

None to declare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Oncological Rehabilitation, Department of Oncological Clinic, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden

    Katarina Y. Karlsson

  2. Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Katarina Y. Karlsson & Lena B. Nilsson-Wikmar

  3. Department of Oncology Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden

    Imke Wallenius & Henrik Lindman

  4. Department of Radiology, Oncology and Radiation Science, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Birgitta B. K. Johansson

  5. Section of Oncological Rehabilitation P9:01, Karolinska University Hospital, 17176, Stockholm, Sweden

    Katarina Y. Karlsson

Authors
  1. Katarina Y. Karlsson
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  2. Imke Wallenius
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  3. Lena B. Nilsson-Wikmar
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  4. Henrik Lindman
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  5. Birgitta B. K. Johansson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katarina Y. Karlsson.

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Karlsson, K.Y., Wallenius, I., Nilsson-Wikmar, L.B. et al. Lymphoedema and health-related quality of life by early treatment in long-term survivors of breast cancer. A comparative retrospective study up to 15 years after diagnosis. Support Care Cancer 23, 2965–2972 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2662-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-015-2662-4

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