Aim: To determine whether prophylactic use of compression sleeves can prevent arm swelling following axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) undertaken as part of treatment for breast cancer.
Methods: Women newly diagnosed with breast cancer (planned = 306; recruited 307) were randomly assigned to either a compression or control group following ALND. Both groups received usual postoperative care. Participants in the compression group wore compression sleeves from the first postoperative day until three months after the completion of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) and relative arm volume increase (RAVI) thresholds were used separately to determine arm swelling. The arm swelling based on the BIS and RAVI thresholds was analysed using time-to-event analysis.
Results: The estimated one-year arm swelling rate was lower in the compression group than in the control group based on BIS (42% vs. 52%, respectively) and RAVI (14% vs. 25%). The hazard ratio for developing arm swelling in the compression group in relation to the control group was 0.61 (95% CI: 0.43 to 0.85; p = 0.004) and 0.56 (95% CI: 0.33 to 0.96; p = 0.034) based on BIS and RAVI, respectively.
Conclusions: Prophylactic use of a compression sleeve reduced and delayed the occurrence of arm swelling in the first year following ALND in women at risk of lymphoedema.