An Auto-Adjustable Night Garment to Control Early Rebound Effect of Edema Volume After Intensive Phase of Decongestive Lymphedema Therapy

Background: Lymphedema of the arm and/or hand is a well-established complication of breast cancer therapy. The objective of the study was to determine the interest of auto-adjustable MOBIDERM (R) Autofit night arm sleeve in controlling edema rebound effect in breast cancer-related lymphedema patients just after a successful intensive phase of decongestive lymphedema therapy (DLT). Materials and Methods: This is a subgroup analysis of MARILYN Study, conducted on 40 patients after completion of intensive DLT. Patients were randomized in Night-user group (fitted with MOBIDERM Autofit device) or No night-user group (no night compression). For subgroups analysis, patients were defined as high responders (HR) if their lymphedema volume reduction during DLT was 35% or as low responders (LR) if it was below 35%. Results: In HR subgroups (n=16), the mean lymphedema volume variation between Day 0 and 30 was 28.4mL in the night-user group versus 181.4mL in the no night-user group. When adjusted to the loss of volume during DLT, 89% of the DLT benefit is maintained in HR night-user versus 54% in no night-user group. Between LR (24 patients), this mean volume variation was by 65.1mL versus 54.9mL in night-user and no night-user groups respectively between Day 0 and 30. Conclusion: Wearing MOBIDERM Autofit, on top of the day time hosiery, appears a promising way to control the early rebound effect during the maintenance phase especially in DLT-HR.