Comparison of the short-term effects of hyperbaric oxygen therapy and complex decongestive therapy on breast cancer-related lymphedema: A pilot study.

What Researchers Did

Researchers conducted a prospective observational study on 10 breast cancer-related lymphedema patients, comparing complex decongestive therapy alone to a combination of complex decongestive therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy over two weeks.

What They Found

No significant differences were found between the two groups in demographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, or quality-of-life outcomes. However, parameters measured by bioimpedance spectroscopy showed more significant improvements in the CDT-HBOT group compared to the CDT-only group.

Canadian Relevance

This study has no direct Canadian connection as it was not conducted in Canada nor involved Canadian participants or researchers.

Study Limitations

A significant limitation of this pilot study is its small sample size of only 10 patients, which restricts the generalizability of the findings.