Objectives. Lymphedema is neglected in medical education, and a review on healthcare practitioners’ (HCPs) knowledge is necessary to shed light on gaps and to provide evidence for establishing educational programs on lymphedema. Methods. This systematic review was performed based on the PRISMA guideline in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. There was no limitation on the type of lymphedema or HCPs. The quality assessment was performed based on QATSDD. Data regarding study characteristics, questionnaire context, and findings of the study were summarized from each article. Results. After the screening, 16 articles were included that 12 were cross-sectional, two were qualitative, and two were interventional pilot studies. Breast cancer and other cancer-related lymphedema, lymphatic filariasis, and podoconiosis were included, and the majority of articles were focused on primary HCPs. The overall knowledge was low and average in five and 11 articles, respectively, and prior education was a significant factor related to higher knowledge of lymphedema in two studies. Conclusion. Structured education of lymphedema is needed to increase the knowledge of HCPs and to enhance their collaboration in multidisciplinary care teams. Improvement of HCPs’ knowledge may lead to better outcomes of lymphedema patients’ management which are neglected.
Introduction: Lymphedema is one of the most disturbing complications of breast cancer treatment and some routine medical procedures such as blood pressure (BP) monitoring or injections have been reported to be the major risk factors for lymphedema. This systematic review aimed to shed light on the safety of some medical procedures among breast cancer survivors with and without lymphedema. Methods: An electronic systematic search in Pubmed and Scopus was undertaken from 1 January 1992 to 12 May 2020 and all relevant studies were summarized in a table based on the PRISMA guideline. Results: Twenty-three articles were included from which 11 and 8 articles were prospective and retrospective original studies, respectively. The remaining 4 articles were case reports. BP measurement, injections, blood draw, and hand surgeries were the medical procedures of interest. Most of the included studies have reported that these medical procedures did not result in lymphedema initiation or worsening in breast cancer survivors; however, case reports of the harmful effects of these procedures were also included in this systematic search. Conclusions: Although recent well-designed prospective studies did not show any significant side effects from medical procedures in breast cancer survivors, concerns exist for both healthcare staff and patients. Additionally, it seems that there are specific aspects that have not been investigated properly in previous studies and should be considered in future studies.
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