IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2023 Sep;27(9):4524-4535. doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2023.3280196. Epub 2023 Sep 6.
Breast cancer related lymphedema (BCRL) is a common, debilitating condition that can affect up to one in five breast cancer surviving patients (BCSP). BCRL can significantly reduce the quality of life (QOL) of patients and poses a significant challenge to healthcare providers. Early detection and continuous monitoring of lymphedema is crucial for the development of client-centered treatment plans for post-cancer surgery patients. Therefore, this comprehensive scoping review aimed to investigate the current technology methods used for the remote monitoring of BCRL and their potential to facilitate telehealth in the treatment of lymphedema. Initially, five electronic databases were systematically searched and analyzed following the PRISMA flow diagram. Studies were included, specifically if they provided data on the effectiveness of the intervention and were designed for the remote monitoring of BCRL. A total of 25 included studies reported 18 technological solutions to remotely monitor BCRL with significant methodological variation. Additionally, the technologies were categorized by method of detection and wearability. The findings of this comprehensive scoping review indicate that state-of-the-art commercial technologies were found to be more appropriate for clinical use than home monitoring, with portable 3D imaging tools being popular (SD 53.40) and accurate (correlation 0.9, p 0.05) for evaluating lymphedema in both clinic and home settings with expert practitioners and therapists. However, wearable technologies showed the most future potential for accessible and clinical long-term lymphedema management with positive telehealth outcomes. In conclusion, the absence of a viable telehealth device highlights the need for urgent research to develop a wearable device that can effectively track BCRL and facilitate remote monitoring, ultimately improving the quality of life for patients following post-cancer treatment.
乳腺癌相关淋巴水肿（BCRL）是一种常见的、使人虚弱的疾病，可影响多达五分之一的乳腺癌存活患者（BCSP）。BCRL 会显著降低患者的生活质量（QOL），并对医疗保健提供者构成重大挑战。早期发现和持续监测淋巴水肿对于制定针对癌症手术后患者的以客户为中心的治疗计划至关重要。因此，本全面范围审查旨在调查目前用于远程监测 BCRL 的技术方法及其在治疗淋巴水肿方面促进远程医疗的潜力。最初，根据 PRISMA 流程图系统地搜索和分析了五个电子数据库。如果研究提供了干预效果的数据，并且旨在远程监测 BCRL，则将其包括在内。共有 25 项纳入研究报告了 18 种远程监测 BCRL 的技术解决方案，方法学差异很大。此外，根据检测方法和可穿戴性对技术进行了分类。本全面范围审查的结果表明，与家庭监测相比，发现最先进的商业技术更适合临床使用，便携式 3D 成像工具（SD 53.40）非常流行（相关性 0.9，p 0.05），并且由专家医生和治疗师在诊所和家庭环境中评估淋巴水肿时准确（相关性 0.9，p 0.05）。然而，可穿戴技术在实现 accessible 和临床长期淋巴水肿管理方面显示出最大的未来潜力，具有积极的远程医疗效果。总之，缺乏可行的远程医疗设备突出表明需要紧急研究开发一种可有效跟踪 BCRL 并促进远程监测的可穿戴设备，最终改善癌症治疗后患者的生活质量。
