Complementary Therapy for Breast Cancer Patients Related Lymphedema

Abstract

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the world that has many potential negative impacts. One of the generally complications that can occur in breast cancer patients is lymphedema. Lymphedema is abnormal swelling in hands, arms and breasts as negative effects of medical management. Currently, various attempts have been conducted to treat lymphedema, such as invasive and non-pharmacological treatments. For this reason, this study aims to determine the effectiveness of the use of complementary therapies for breast cancer patients. The method used is a literature review through articles indexed from several databases, such as Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, and ScienDirect from 2015-2019 using the keywords "breast cancer", "breast cancer related lymphedema", "complementary therapy" , "Lymphedema management". Eight articles were selected based on the purposes and inclusion criteria of this research, consisting of six quantitative studies with randomized controlled trial research method and two articles of qualitative studies. The result of the literature review shows a positive effect of lymphedema treatment conducted by breast cancer patients. Complementary therapy can be an advisable solution to reduce and treat lymphedema in breast cancer patients.