Grant: Operating Grant

Many breast cancer survivors develop arm swelling after surgery and /or radiation therapy treatment for their cancer. This condition is known as lymphedema. There are a number of treatments that can help to reduce lymphedema, such as compression bandaging, compression pumps, and massage. Once the arm swelling has reduced, the breast cancer survivor is provided with a compression sleeve to wear during the day to help prevent the swelling from returning in the arm. However, this provides insufficient swelling control for many survivors and, as the daytime sleeve should not be worn while sleeping, they are advised to apply compression bandages at nighttime. Although compression bandaging is inexpensive, it takes 20 to 30 minutes to properly wrap the arm each night and assistance may be needed. Various types of night-time compression system garments have been designed to provide a simpler alternative to arm bandaging to help survivors better control their lymphedema. These night-time compression system garments are easy to use, quick to apply, and more comfortable to wear; however, they are expensive to purchase. To date, no well-designed, large-scale study has been performed to determine if night-time compression, either through self-bandaging or use of a night-time compression system garment, is helpful for controlling lymphedema. Recently, we completed a pilot study which demonstrated that breast cancer survivors are interested in and willing to wear a night-time compression system garment to improve the management of their lymphedema. Thus, the proposed study will compare the effectiveness of standard care (day-time compression sleeve only) with day- and night-time compression (night-time bandaging and night-time compression system garments) in women with breast cancer related lymphedema. We will also compare the value of the two night-time compression methods in terms of quality of life, sleep disturbance, independence in use, and time benefit.