Evaluating the effects of lymphoedema management strategies on functional status and health-related quality of life following treatment for head and neck cancer: Protocol for a systematic review

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Abstract

Introduction/Background: Patients living with and after head and neck cancer often experience treatment-related consequences. Head and neck lymphoedema can be described as a common chronic side effect of head and neck cancer and recognised as a contributing factor to impairment of functional status, symptom burden and health-related quality of life. The effects of head and neck lymphoedema can limit patients’ involvement in daily activities and alter their appearance, increasing symptom burden and negatively affecting health-related quality of life. Objective: The protocol outlines the rationale and aims for the systematic review. The main aim of the systematic review is to identify and systematically synthesise the literature on the effectiveness of head and neck lymphoedema management strategies, on both function status and health-related quality of life for head and neck cancer patients. Methods and analysis: This protocol will be conducted according to the PRISMA-P guidelines. Electronic databases will be systematically searched using MEDLINE via Ovid and PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and Scopus. Inclusion criteria will involve intervention studies for head and neck lymphoedema management, English language, and adult human participants following head and neck cancer. The software Covidence will be used to export, manage, and screen results. Risk of bias and quality will be assessed in included studies using the Cochrane Handbook of Systematic Reviews of Intervention risk of bias and GRADE tools. A meta-analysis will be performed if there are sufficient homogenous studies. Alternatively, a narrative synthesis will be completed on study findings. Ethics and dissemination: No ethical approval is required as the study does not involve patient and public involvement. The findings of the review will be disseminated in conferences and submitted for approval to be published in a peer-reviewed journal. Prospero registration number: CRD42022378417. (S1 Appendix).
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0297757
Pages (from-to)1-11
Number of pages11
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume19
Issue number2
Early online date2 Feb 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished online - 2 Feb 2024

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Copyright: © 2024 Mullan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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