A new University of Queensland study has confirmed the importance of physiotherapy for optimising physical recovery after breast cancer surgery.
"We found that patients receiving physiotherapy had greater arm movement three months after breast cancer surgery and were back to their pre-operative status," Dr Robyn Box said. "This difference between the groups who did and did not receive physiotherapy after their surgery was maintained for two years after surgery."
Dr Box's study evaluated a physiotherapy management care plan developed to optimise shoulder movement recovery and minimise the development of lymphoedema in women recovering from breast cancer surgery.
(Lymphoedema is a swelling of the arm after removal of the lymph glands.)
She found the overall incidence of lymphoedema among the 65 women taking part in the study at two years post-operatively was 20 percent. However, three times as many women receiving no treatment (the control group) were identified with lymphoedema compared to the physiotherapy group.
In addition, the women in the physiotherapy group who had received an early intervention strategy had reduced their arm size to less than the clinical criteria, or halted any further progression of the condition.
Dr Box, an honorary research consultant in UQ's Physiotherapy Department specialising in treatment of breast cancer patients, was recently awarded her PhD for the research supervised by Dr Joanne Bullock-Saxton.
Dr Box said 12 years ago she became concerned at the number of women that she encountered in her clinical practice who were commonly experiencing problems of impaired arm function or who had battled with secondary arm lymphoedema after breast cancer treatment.
"Women were concerned that they weren't told that they might experience these sort of problems and why they couldn't have done something sooner," she said. "It occurred to me that early intervention might be the key."
In 1993 Dr Box developed a physiotherapy program that has since been used by physiotherapists working with the staff of Royal Brisbane Hospital Breast Surgical Clinic. An evaluation of this clinical program indicated that the women who received physiotherapy had better recovery when compared to the literature available at the time. Her PhD study was developed to investigate these clinical benefits more thoroughly. The oucomes of this original clinical program commenced seven years ago and is currently being evaluated in conjunction with her colleague, Hildegard Reul-Hirche. This review will determine the shoulder movement recovery and incidence of secondary arm lyphoedema in breast cancer patients who have survived up to seven years after surgery.
For her PhD study, she conducted a randomised controlled clinical trial to evaluate 65 patients undergoing surgery at Royal Brisbane and Wesley Hospitals. This study that looked at patients pre-operatively and followed them for two years postoperatively, has been extended to monitor the progress of these women for another three to five years after their surgery.
Media: For further information, contact Dr Robyn Box, mobile 0418 735 637 or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au.
