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Prevalence and Impacts of Upper Limb Morbidity after Treatment for Breast Cancer: A Cross-Sectional Study of Lymphedema and Function

2013; Volume: 1; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.13189/cor.2013.010203

2331-6128

Catherine Bulley, Fiona Coutts, Christine Blyth, W Jack, M. Chetty, Matthew Barber, Chee-Wee Tan,

Cancer survivorship and care

A cross-sectional study screened lymphedema, impaired upper limb function (ULF) and quality of life (QOL) in women post-breast cancer.Women attending review appointments who had completed surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, were without recurrence, and could complete questionnaires in English were invited.Medical records were reviewed and questionnaires completed: the Morbidity Screening Tool (MST), Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (DASH), and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy for breast cancer QOL questionnaire (FACTB+4).The vertical perometer (400T) measured percentage upper limb volume difference (%LVD), with 10% or greater difference diagnosed as lymphedema.Of 617 participants (mean age 62.3y, SD 10.0; mean time since treatment 63.0 months, SD 46.6), sufficient questionnaire data were available for 613 and perometry data for 417.Using the MST, 21.9% self-reported impaired ULF, 19.8% lymphedema, and 9.2% both.Based on %LVD, 26.5% had lymphedema.Histogram analysis for individuals in the first eight twelve-month intervals after treatment found impaired ULF prevalence peaked at three to five years and lymphedema at three years.Significantly worse function (DASH) and QOL (FACT B+4) resulted for those with morbidity (p<0.000).This provides evidence that impaired ULF and lymphedema negatively affect QOL years after treatment and are not necessarily linked.