Letter to the editor re: Shah et al.: “The impact of monitoring techniques on progression to chronic breast cancer‑related lymphedema: a meta‑analysis comparing bioimpedance spectroscopy versus circumferential measurements”

Excerpt

Breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) affects one in six cancer survivors with significant personal and societal impact to those affected, which in turn has brought research attention to evaluating strategies to prevent and/or detect and treat BCRL early. As such, the recently published meta-analysis by Shah and colleagues [1], which was conducted to evaluate the impact of BCRL monitoring techniques on the development of chronic BCRL, was read with keen interest. The authors concluded that monitoring with bioimpedance (BIS) reduce the cumulative incidence of chronic lymphedema by 69% and 81% compared to background literature and circumference monitoring, respectively. While this represents a compelling statement, we present below several factors that need to be considered before findings from this meta-analysis (MA) are used to guide changes to breast cancer care. …