Using Compression Sleeves After Breast Surgery Could Prevent Swelling, Study Says

Many breast cancer patients who undergo surgery for the disease suffer from the loss or damage of their underarm lymph nodes as a result. The resulting condition, known as lymphedema, is a buildup of lymph fluid in the arms that causes swelling, pain, numbness, tingling, and a host of other symptoms.

There are a variety of treatments for lymphedema, but none of them can cure the condition. Therefore, any method found to prevent it from happening in the first place could be a huge help to millions of patients.

A new study recently suggested that using compression sleeves after breast cancer as a prophylactic measure could help keep lymphedema, or at least its symptoms, at bay.

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Researchers in India studied women undergoing axillary lymph node dissection at Tata Memorial Hospital. 152 women were assigned to use compression sleeves following their procedures, while 149 women were not given compression sleeves. The women who received compression sleeves were told to wear them until three months after all their treatments were complete.

The researchers measured bioimpedance spectroscopy thresholds and relative arm volume increase to determine the success of their treatment. In the first year after their surgeries, statistically significant arm swelling occurred in 58 patients who wore the sleeves, compared to 80 of the patients who didn’t. That’s roughly 42 percent compared to 52 percent.

Higher age and taking neoadjuvant chemotherapy were two factors that seemed to impact patients’ likelihood of developing lymphedema and the time frame in which it occurred, but it also appears that the presence or absence of compression sleeves made a difference.

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“Prophylactic use of compression sleeves compared with the control group reduced and delayed the occurrence of arm swelling in women at high risk for lymphedema in the first year after surgery for breast cancer,” the researchers concluded.

They did note, however, that quality of life measurements did not appear to be significantly different between the two groups.

The study’s relatively small sample size and limited time frame mean that nothing can be said definitively about the results. More research will be needed in the future to corroborate this evidence. However, breast cancer patients slated to undergo lymph node removal may still choose to wear compression sleeves as a prophylactic measure, as it may help prevent arm swelling.

The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.