Arm swelling after breast cancer surgery common
Thu Aug 7, 2008 11:58am EDT
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Following surgery for breast cancer, many women will experience arm swelling - a bothersome condition doctors refer to as lymphedema.
Lymphedema is a public health issue "deserving greater attention," doctors from Australia wrote in a recently published paper.
Among 287 women with breast cancer, 190 took part in all assessments during 18 months of follow-up after surgery and arm swelling developed in 62 (33 percent) of them during that time, Dr. Sandra C. Hayes and colleagues from Queensland University of Technology in Kelvin Grove found.
Roughly 60 percent of these women had fleeting symptoms, whereby the lymphedema dissipated with or without treatment. However, 40 percent of women experienced long-term arm swelling lasting more than 3 months, with or without intermittent periods of relief.
Women with lymphedema, Hayes told Reuters Health, "were twice as likely to have poorer upper-body function when compared with women who had not developed arm swelling. Poor upper body function is associated with reduced quality of life," she noted.
More extensive breast surgery increased the odds of lymphedema six-fold and having more than 20 cancerous lymph nodes removed increased odds four-fold.
Hayes noted that two identified risk factors for arm swelling post-surgery -- insufficient physical activity and not using the affected arm -- "are amenable to interventions and should be investigated for their preventive and therapeutic effects among women after treatment for breast cancer."
"It was found that use of the treated side likely decreases risk of developing lymphedema," Hayes said.
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, July 20, 2008.
About Me
- Pat O'Connor
- Am old enough to understand the difference between the Bay of Pigs - and roasting a pig at a epicurian feast. Been thru the hippy, yippie and yuppie years - always remaining who I am. Very much believe in "Sing your own song - weave your own tapestry" Am young enough to still know the thrill of new discoveries, the beauty of the evening, to celebrate the joy of another tommorow. Survived these many decades with a severe medical problems. Sorting out the maze of now having two lymphomas and all their nasty little companions, but I continue. Besides, being a simple iconoclastic eclectic, have been called many things. An incurable romanticist - with a strong touch of reality. Thinker, intellectual (God, how I hate that term) - been told I am a lion with the heart of the poet. Know how to wage war and conquer my foes - but would rather be known as one who brings hope and life. To bring hope into anothers life is the ultimate of joys. Life should be about bringing hope, peace, vision... a sense of purpose beyond yourself.