The University of Arizona

INFLUENCE OF COMPRESSION CYCLE TIME AND NUMBER OF SLEEVE CHAMBERS ON UPPER EXTREMITY LYMPHEDEMA VOLUME REDUCTION DURING INTERMITTENT PNEUMATIC COMPRESSION

U Pilch, M Wozniewski, A Szuba

Abstract


The cycle time and number of chambersin the pneumatic sleeve may influence theoutcome of lymphedema therapy withintermittent compression devices. The aim ofour study was to assess efficacy of severalcommonly used different IPC protocols onedema volume reduction in women withpostmastectomy lymphedema. Fixty-seven (57)women with secondary arm lymphedema (age39-80) were selected to the study. Womenwere randomly assigned to two study groupswith different IPC cycle times: I – 90:90s andII – 45:15s. Both groups were then randomlydivided into two subgroups with differentsleeves: A – 1 chamber sleeve (28 women) andB – 3 chamber sleeve (29 women). All womenunderwent IPC treatment for 5 weeks, 5 timesa week for 1 hour (25 sessions). Arm volumemeasurements were performed before andafter each IPC session. Significant reductionof edema volume was observed in all therapeuticsubgroups, regardless of cycle times andnumber of chambers. In the group with shortIPC cycle, better efficacy was noticed with3-chamber sleeve. IPC is an effective methodof volume reduction in women with postmastectomyarm lymphedema regardless of cycletimes and number of sleeve chambers.

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