Complex decongestive therapy improves finger tapping score in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema

Breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) impairs upper limb function and cognitive performance. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of fifteen sessions of complex decongestive therapy (CDT) on fine motor performance and information processing speed in women with BCRL.

Thirty-eight women with BCRL (54.97 ± 10.78 years) were recruited in the study. Participants either received five times weekly CDT consisting of manual lymphatic drainage, skin care, compression bandaging, and remedial exercises (n = 19) or served as a wait-list control group (n = 19). We used the Finger Tapping Task to assess fine motor performance and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test to assess information processing speed. ANCOVA was performed to analyze the effect of CDT on the dependent variables, adjusting for covariates and baseline values.

CDT significantly improved finger tapping score (p < 0.001) compared to the wait-list to the control group, whereas information processing speed did not significantly change (p = 0.673).

The findings suggest that CDT is an effective conservative therapeutic approach to improve upper extremity fine motor function in women with BCRL. Future studies are needed to investigate the effect of CDT on different cognitive domains.