A modified microwave oven in the treatment of chronic lymphedema of the extremities

Abstract

Among the clinical methods in the treatment of chronic lymphedema of the extremities, heating and bandaging treatment has been most successful in our experience with more than 2000 cases. The microwave oven was developed in our clinic in 1983. There was, however, problems yet to be solved: 1) the power output was not high enough, thus, it could not reach the maximal therapeutic temperature; 2) A puncture technique was necessary to take the local tissue temperature. To improve on these deficiencies, a new generation microwave was developed. Forty cases have been treated with this new apparatus with an effective response rate of 100% after one course of treatment. These patients showed a significant (p < 0.0) reduction in the circumference and volume of extremities. The elasticity of the soft tissue was restored.

The effectiveness and safety of heat/cold therapy in adults with lymphoedema: systematic review

“…They were published between 1986 and 2022 [ 37 , 43 ]. These studies took place in various countries, of which seven were from China [ 30 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 37 , 40 , 41 ], four from Italy [ 19 , 29 , 31 , 38 ], three studies from Japan [ 35 , 42 , 45 ], two studies from India [ 18 , 39 ], and one study each from Brazil, Egypt, and USA [ 33 , 43 , 44 ].…”

“…The majority of studies included adults with secondary lymphoedema of the legs [ 35 , 36 , 40 , 41 , 45 ], arms [ 32 , 33 , 38 , 43 ], or both arms and legs [ 19 , 29 , 30 ]. Included studies took place in a range of clinical environments of which nine were within a hospital [ 32 , 34–37 , 39–42 ], six in outpatients [ 30 , 31 , 33 , 38 , 43 , 45 ], three in a lab [ 19 , 29 , 44 ], and one at home [ 18 ]. Three studies included a mixed adult sample [ 30 , 34 , 37 ].…”

“…Included studies took place in a range of clinical environments of which nine were within a hospital [ 32 , 34–37 , 39–42 ], six in outpatients [ 30 , 31 , 33 , 38 , 43 , 45 ], three in a lab [ 19 , 29 , 44 ], and one at home [ 18 ]. Three studies included a mixed adult sample [ 30 , 34 , 37 ]. Out of the 18 included studies, only two studies assessed the effectiveness of cold therapy on lymphoedema using ethanol–water [ 33 ] and cold air therapy [ 43 ].…”

“…The remaining 17 studies used localised heat therapy provided through 20 modalities, of which five studies used microwave therapy [ 32 , 34 , 37 , 40 , 41 ]; four studies used microwave plus bandaging [ 30 , 42 ]; with two including vibration [ 40 , 45 ]; three studies used hot water [ 19 , 29 , 40 ]; two studies used light therapy [ 18 , 39 ]; one study used light therapy plus interferential therapy [ 39 ]; light therapy plus interferential therapy plus compression [ 39 ]; infrared [ 36 ]; electric blanket plus mechanical lymph drainage [ 44 ]; ultrasound [ 38 ] and electromagnetic therapy [ 31 ]. The majority of these studies that reported skin temperature set a target tissue temperature of between 39 and 42 °C [ 19 , 29 , 31 , 34 , 36 , 37 ] and the majority of studies which reported total intervention treatment time provided treatments between 1200 up to 3600 min of treatment [ 19 , 34–36 , 40–42 ].…”

“…Nine out of 11 before-and-after studies were deemed to be of low quality (overall score less than 13) [ 18 , 29–32 , 34–37 ] (see Tables 2 and 3 for quality assessment of all included studies). With the three main issues being lack of blinding of endpoints [ 18 , 29–32 , 34 , 36 ], prospective calculation of the sample size [ 18 , 30 , 32 , 34–37 ] and appropriate follow-up period [ 18 , 29 , 31 , 34–36 ]. One out of the four non-randomized controlled trials was judged to be of low quality (less than 16) [ 45 ].…”