Journal
CUREUS JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE
Volume 11, Issue 12, Pages -Publisher
SPRINGERNATURE
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.6300
Keywords
lymphedema; breast cancer lymphedema; pharmacotherapy; plastic surgery; individualized medicine; targeted therapy; pharmacologic treatment; inflammation; upper extremity; lower extremity
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It is estimated that one in every six patients undergoing solid cancer treatment will develop secondary lymphedema. We conducted a systematic review of publications assessing the potential use of pharmacotherapy agents in lymphedema treatment. The search was conducted on PubMed and eligibility criteria excluded papers that investigated other therapies or focused on primary lymphedema. From 285 potential papers found in the literature, seven studies fulfilled the eligibility criteria. Different types of therapies were proposed, but all of them interfered with inflammation in the lymphedema tissue. Interestingly, the majority of publications were clinical, and three authors conducted randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded clinical studies. Promising results were observed for the oral administration of ketoprofen or selenium and topical tacrolimus. Pharmacotherapy agents were successfully described in lymphedema treatment in clinical and experimental studies. The benefits of delivering ketoprofen, selenium, or tacrolimus in lymphedema were noticed, and these therapies were easily delivered and well-tolerated.
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