Background: Prospective screening enables earlier detection of breast cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL) and facilitates strategies to reduce risk or slow the progression of BCRL. However, early screening has not yet been implemented into standard care across Australia.
Aim: To examine prospective changes in physical and patient-reported BCRL-specific outcomes pre- and post-breast cancer surgery. This will be the first prospective study of its kind to comprehensively monitor BCRL-related changes in patients of all risk levels not only using standard oedema fluid, volume, and quality of life measurements but also a novel clinical examination tool.
Methods: One-hundred women with newly diagnosed breast cancer will be recruited and assessed pre-surgery and at three, six-, and 12-months post-surgery. Physical outcomes include anthropometry, bioimpedance spectroscopy, perometry, and indurometry. Patient-reported outcomes include the EORTC QLQ-C30 combined with the breast cancer-specific module. Clinical examination will be conducted with The Breast Cancer-related assessment of Lymphoedema in the Upper Extremity tool, measuring changes such as deviation from normal anatomical contour, and change of soft-tissue texture.
Conclusion: Since August 2024, of 45 individuals screened, 20 were eligible and agreed to be contacted, and of these 10 participants (age = 58.7±6.9 years, body mass index = 31.04 ± 5.96 kg/m2) enrolled in the study. Most participants (60%) have undergone a left-sided mastectomy with axillary lymph node dissection or sentinel lymph node biopsy, coinciding with their dominant limb in 50% of the cases. All participants have completed all baseline assessments, with BCRL screening sessions taking around 22.9±7.84 minutes to complete.
Preliminary results from a prospective BCRL screening study indicated a 50% study uptake with good compliance to the study protocol. This study is ongoing and updated study results will be presented at the conference.