| Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy of kinesiology taping (KT) for lymphedema following breast cancer surgery. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the application of KT in patients with lymphedema following breast cancer surgery. Databases including CBM, CNKI, VIP, Wan Fang Data, MEDLINE (via Pubmed), EMbase (via Ovid), The Cochrane Library, The World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) search plat and Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) were searched to collect RCTs from inception to Oct. 2016. Results: Four RCTs involving 162 patients met the inclusion criteria. The results of analysis showed that no adequate evidence supported that KT could improve the lymphedema following breast cancer surgery. Some studies revealed that KT could alleviate the lymphedema-related symptoms to some extent. Conclusion: KT may relieve the lymphedema-related symptoms, however, there is no sufficient evidence to support the effect of KT on lymphedema following breast cancer surgery. Therefore, future studies with large-sample, multi-center and high quality designed RCTs are still warranted in order to characterize the KT efficacy on lymphedema following breast cancer surgery. |
