Objective: This study sought to evaluate the effect of elastic compression, functional compressive bandaging, and kinesiotherapy on blood flow of the upper limb with lymphedema secondary to the treatment of breast cancer.
Methods: This was a randomized blind crossover clinical trial with a washout period of 7 days between treatments. We evaluated 20 women with a mean age of 66.85 years (standard deviation = 11.76), undergoing three types of therapeutic procedures randomly applied by lot: kinesiotherapy, functional compressive bandaging + kinesiotherapy (FCB), and elastic compression + kinesiotherapy (EC). Blood flow, including mean and maximum velocity, was assessed by Doppler ultrasound before and after the therapeutic procedure (immediately after, 15 minutes, and 30 minutes). We used two-way analysis of variance for repeated measures followed by Bonferroni's test, considering a significance level of 5%.
Results: The EC and FCB groups showed a significant increase in the mean velocity of blood flow in the axillary and brachial arteries and veins compared to the group that received only kinesiotherapy (p < 0.05), but no difference between them (p > 0.05). Moreover, the EC and FCB groups showed greater increase in maximum velocity of blood flow in the brachial artery (p < 0.05) compared to the group that received only kinesiotherapy, but no difference between them (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: Elastic compression and functional compressive bandaging combined with kinesiotherapy increased blood flow of upper limb lymphedema.
Keywords: blood flow; breast cancer; lymphedema; physical therapy.