title: Health related quality of life improvement in breast cancer patients: secondary outcome from a simple blinded, randomised clinical trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the effectiveness of an early physiotherapy intervention for the prevention of secondary lymphoedema on health-related quality of life in women who also received an education program after breast cancer surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and fifty three women diagnosed with unilateral breast cancer (stage I-II) treated with breast surgery, which included axillary lymph-node dissection, from Hospital Príncipe de Asturias, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (Spain) were randomly assigned into two groups. Subjects in early physiotherapy group (n = 76) received a physiotherapy intervention combined with a therapeutic education program; women in the control group (n = 77) received only the therapeutic education program. Both interventions were delivered by two different physiotherapists of Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group at Physiotherapy Department of Alcala University. Health related quality of life was measured with EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaires in 5 assessments: after surgery just before group interventions started (A1), after the 3-week group interventions finished (A2); and a follow-up period in 3 (A3), 6 (A4) and 12 (A5) months after surgical intervention.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Greater change in quality of life was observed for early physiotherapy group arm compared to control group, although no strong statistical evidence was found (p > .05) for most of the dimensions except for physical function and social function areas (p < .003).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The control group with therapeutic education program reported a clear improvement in the perception of quality of life. Adding early physiotherapy to the therapeutic education program did not show statistically significant changes in the global score or in most of the dimensions, but showed an improvement in the physical and social dimensions.
authors.affiliation: Physiotherapy Department, Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group, Faculty of Physiotherapy, Alcalá de Henares University, E-28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: marijo.yuste@uah.es.
authors.forename: María José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Yuste Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Physiotherapy Department, Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group, Faculty of Physiotherapy, Alcalá de Henares University, E-28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María Torres
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Lacomba
authors.affiliation: Physiotherapy Department, Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group, Faculty of Physiotherapy, Alcalá de Henares University, E-28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Beatriz Sánchez
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Clinical Trial Unit, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: David Prieto
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Merino
authors.affiliation: Physiotherapy Department, Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group, Faculty of Physiotherapy, Alcalá de Henares University, E-28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Soraya Pacheco
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: da Costa
authors.affiliation: Physiotherapy Department, Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group, Faculty of Physiotherapy, Alcalá de Henares University, E-28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Ester Cerezo
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Téllez
authors.affiliation: Physiotherapy Department, Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group, Faculty of Physiotherapy, Alcalá de Henares University, E-28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain; Príncipe de Asturias University Hospital, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Álvaro
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Zapico Goñi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*; D061345:Early Medical Intervention; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008209:Lymphedema / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008875:Middle Aged; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013030:Spain
keywords: Breast cancer; Physiotherapy; Quality of life; Therapeutic education program