EFFECTIVENESS OF MANUAL LYMPHATIC DRAINAGE IN IMPROVING QUALITY OF LIFE AMONG WOMEN WITH BREAST CANCER RELATED LYMPHEDEMA

BACKGROUND & AIM The body of evidence related to higher incidence of breast cancer related lymphedema after breast surgeries concluded compromise Quality of Life (QoL) among women over the past decade. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) in improving QoL among women with Breast cancer related Lymphedema. STUDY DESIGN & PARTICIPANTS A Quasi Experimental study was conducted on women of the age 36-60 years with stage I and II breast cancer related lymphedema at Rehabilitation Department of a tertiary care Hospital. METHODS Total 70 women recruited with lymphedema were assessed at baseline and after treatment on Lymphedema Life Impact Scale. Manual lymphatic drainage technique was applied for 3 days in a week for 6 weeks with a compression bandage for first 4 weeks. RESULTS The findings showed that Manual Lymphatic Drainage (MLD) technique significantly improves the Lymphedema Life Impact Scale score after intervention p <0.05 notably in psychological domain of the scale p=0.0001 furthermore, the percentage of impairment was also reduced significantly from 75.98% to 44.18%. CONCLUSION MLD is found to be more effective treatment for improving the overall Quality of Life among women with Breast cancer related lymphedema.