Lymphedema

Efficacy of Alternative and Other Treatments According to GRADE* Ranking:

Pine Bark Extract [1, 2, 3, 4]:

Please note, this management does NOT treat the condition itself. It may mildly help with some of the symptoms, and even then has insufficient evidence to back up this claim at present.

Recommendation: weakly in favor  (Early studies indicate potential for Pine bark extract in the treatment of Venous Thromboembolism, but more clinical studies need to be done)

Grade of Evidence: low quality of evidence

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT):

Recommendation: strongly against (available evidence shows that HBOT is in no way useful in treating Lymphedema, and can have harmful effects. NOT RECOMENDED)

Grade of Evidence: very low quality of evidence

* www.gradeworkinggroup.org

Summary References

Treatments:

1. Ades T, Alteri R, Gansler T, Yeargin P, "Complete Guide to Complimentary & Alternative Cancer Therapies", American Cancer Society, Atlanta USA, 2009

2. http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00214032

3. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/pine-bark-extract

4. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-pycnogenol.html

Public Discussion