Clinical trial · Interventional
Breaststroke Swimming After Breast Cancer Treatment/Surgery as a Means of Treatment for Seroma, Lymphedema, and Chronic Arm and Chest Pain
- Source
- ClinicalTrials.gov
- Retrieved
- Sep 8, 2026
- Layer
- normalized (units and labels harmonized; values unchanged)
- Run
- ING-CLINICALTRIALS-20260908-000001
Summary
Brief summary (as posted)
Following surgery and treatment for breast cancer, many patients experience swelling of lymph nodes (lymphedema) or accumulation of fluid (seroma) that can cause pain, restrict movement, and reduce quality of life. Current treatments include massage, pressure dressings, and drainage, but these are often ineffective and do not last. Physical activity, in particular swimming, has been linked to improvement in lymphedema/seroma symptoms, but more research is required to determine whether or not this type of treatment is effective.
Conditions
Conditions (4)
Free-text conditions as registered, with the CancerIndex entity they were reconciled to and the match type.
| Condition (as posted) | Mapped entity | Match | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lymphedema | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Pain, Chest | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Pain, Postoperative | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
| Seroma | — | UNRESOLVED | — |
Interventions
Interventions (1)
| Intervention | Type | Mapped drug | Match |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swimming | Behavioral | — | UNRESOLVED |
Design
Arms and outcomes
Arms (2)
- type
- EXPERIMENTAL
- label
- Experimental Group
- description
- In the experimental group, patients allocated to the swimming/experimental group will participate in 8 weeks of the swimming program, which involves three weekly swimming sessions of 30 minutes minimum. They will be asked to undergo a range of motion (ROM) assessment by a registered kinesiologist, as well as a few short questionnaires administered over the phone by a research assistant, once at the onset of the intervention and once a month for 3 months during the intervention.
- interventionNames
- Behavioral: Swimming
- type
- NO_INTERVENTION
- label
- Control Group
- description
- The control group will include patients who receive standard of care. This includes the recommendation to undertake exercise and physiotherapy; however, no formal exercise program will be provided. In the control group, participants will be asked to answer a few short questionnaires administered over the phone by a research assistant once per month for 4 months.
Primary outcomes (1)
Eligibility
Eligibility (as posted)
- Sex
- All
- Minimum age
- 18 Years
Show eligibility criteria text
Inclusion Criteria: * Eligible participants include adult female patients, 18 years of age or higher, from the Ottawa Hospital who are post-operative from a lumpectomy or a mastectomy with or without full axillary dissection and radiation. They will be less than 3 years from completion of their acute cancer treatment. Study subjects must have pain symptoms related to chest wall pain and/or arm morbidity, seroma or lymphedema. They must have approval from their medical and radiation oncologist to participate in the study upon enrollment. Exclusion Criteria: * Patients with ongoing medical problems where swimming would be contraindicated will be excluded from this study. Those who swam on a regular basis prior to their breast cancer diagnosis will be excluded from the study, as well as those who cannot swim, due to safety concerns and limited resources/time required to complete more in-depth swimming instruction.
References
Publications (0)
Data not yet available