Evaluation of biomechanical characteristics of viscosity and elasticity, and the effect of elastic compression on tissue affected by lymphedema arising from the treatment of breast cancer

• Grant number: 18/05041-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: December 01, 2018
• End date: February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy
• Principal Investigator: Elaine Caldeira de Oliveira Guirro
• Grantee: Elaine Caldeira de Oliveira Guirro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Antonio Adilton Oliveira Carneiro

Abstract

Lymphedema is a relatively common condition involving the upper limb ipsilateral therapeutic procedures related to the treatment of breast cancer, with a constant concern for these patients. Common methods for assessing lymphedema not characterize morphological changes dysfunction, a condition necessary to determine the prognosis and choice of targeted treatments. The aim of this study was to characterize morphologically the degree of commitment or stiffening of lymphedema through the diagnostic ultrasound and elastography ultrasound and the effect of therapeutic intervention with elastic compression. To do so will be evaluated 40 women with unilateral lymphedema resulting from treatment of breast cancer, the members being divided into affected (affected by lymphedema) and control (contralateral). Each member shall be further subdivided into seven areas defined by perimetry, evaluated in a paired manner. The effect of elastic compression will be checked before and after intervention, complemented by clinical data. Statistical analysis of normality assumptions will be verified for data through the statistical test of Shapiro-Wilk and homoscedasticity between the variances through the statistical Levene test. When the statistical significance of normality and homoscedasticity between the variances have been checked, the group effect shall be made by applying the Shapiro-Wilk, followed by post-hoc Tukey; and the data that do not meet the requirements of parametric methods, the Kruskal-Wallis test will be applied, followed by Mann-Whitney test with Bonferroni correction. The Wilcoxon test is used to analyze the comparison of paired data. To check the degree of association between anthropometric and morphological variables will be applied Spearman. In all analyzes will be considered the significance level of alpha = 5%. The analyzes will be processed in a single statistical package (SPSS version 14.0, Inc., USA). (AU)