Early rehabilitation of head-neck edema after curative surgery for orofacial tumors

Objective: To evaluate a rehabilitative program for postoperative head-neck edema. Design: Eleven patients completed the study. A series of ten manual lymphat ic drainage were initiated and completed early after surgery. On discharge from the hospital, the patients wore "made-to-measure" or customized compre ssion garments for the next several weeks. Tape measurements and sonographi c evaluation of the soft-tissue width were used to quantify the extent of t he swelling. Results: After 6 wk of therapy, the patients exhibited a statistically sign ificant (P < 0.05; Wilcoxon's test) remission; the remission continued in e ight patients who were measured at 12 +/- 3 wk. Conclusions: This initial trial demonstrates that sequential therapy of man ual lymphatic drainage and compression garments can significantly reduce ea rly postoperative edema after curative surgery for orofacial tumors. The ou tcome can be quantified by comparing the course of distances between the de fined anatomic marks and by sonographic evaluation of soft-tissue width. Th is pilot study encourages that more controlled, randomized studies, with la rger numbers of patients, be conducted to verify these results.