Abstract: Objective To observe the effect of compressive low elastic bandage on upper limb lymphedema after breast cancer surgery. Methods From November, 2017 to December, 2018, 64 patients with upper limb lymphedema after breast cancer surgery were randomly divided into control group (n = 32) and observation group (n = 32). Both groups accepted manual lymphatic drainage and low elastic bandage, while the observation group increased the pressure with sponge pads on the fibrous swelling site as bandaging, five times a week for two weeks. They were measured L-Dex with bioelectrical spectroscopy before the first treatment (T1), before the second treatment (T2), before the third treatment (T3), before the sixth treatment (T4), and 24 hours after the tenth treatment (T5), respectively. The arm circumference of affected side and un-affected side was also measured at T1 and T5. Results L-Dex decreased since T2 in both groups, but increased at T4 in the observation group and more than that of the control group (t = 2.13, P < 0.05), and less than that of the control group at T5 (t = -2.29, P < 0.05). The difference of arm circumference between affected side and un-affected side was less in the observation group than in the control group (t = -3.78, P < 0.001)。 Conclusion Low elastic bandage combined with lymphatic drainage technique can alleviate the fibrous swelling. On the basis of low elastic bandage with local sponge pad compression is more effective than simple low elastic bandage on fibrous swelling after lymphedema of upper limbs after breast cancer surgery.

Key words: breast cancer, lymphedema, fibrous swelling, low elastic bandage, pressure bandage