Table 1.

Characteristics of systematic reviews with meta-analyses.

Author, year	Intervention	Aim	Inclusion	Exclusion	Funding
Shao, 201727	MLD	To determine if addition of MLD to the standard therapy is more effective in treatment of breast cancer related lymphedema	>10% or 2 cm or 150 ml volume difference	Non-randomized studies	None
McNeely, 201130	MLD	To update the evidence from RCTs concerning the benefits of conservative interventions for all cancer-related lymphedema	Lymphedema secondary to cancer	Non-randomized studies Grey literature	Partially funded by Alberta Health Services Cancer Care
Huang, 201328	MLD	To evaluate the effectiveness of MLD in the prevention and treatment of breast-cancer-related lymphedema	Axillary lymph-node dissection	Only sentinel node performed	None
Ezzo, 201529	MLD	To assess the efficacy and safety of MLD in treating breast cancer related lymphedema	>2 cm or 200 ml or 10% excess volume	Use of non-manual form (i.e., electronic) of lymphatic drainage, use of different type of massage instead of MLD, use of MLD in both groups, altering more than the MLD component, prevention therapy	Manheimer and Ezzo partially funded by NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine) of the US National Institutes of Health
Qiao, 202331	MLD	To evaluate the efficacy of MLD on postmastectomy BCRL	RCT, >18 years, >150 ml increase compared with preoperatively or >2 cm or 10% excess volume	<20 patients in trial, patients with serious complications, non-English literature	None
Liang, 202013	MLD	To evaluate the effect of MLD on the treatment and prevention of lymphedema after breast cancer surgery	RCT, clearly defined definition of lymphedema	Grey literature	Scientific Research Foundation of Hunan Provincial Health Commission (grant no. C2017004)
Rogan, 201632	Compression pump and Exercise	To evaluate the effects of compression bandages, sleeves, intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) and active exercise on the reduction of breast cancer-related lymphedema	Mentioned one of the following keywords in the title or abstract: lymphoedema, women, mastectomy, axillary dissection, or breast cancer	Non-breast cancers, lower extremity lymphoedema, impact on fatigue only, prevention therapy	NR
Shao, 20149	Compression pump	To determine if intermittent pneumatic pump manage lymphedema effectively	>10% or 2 cm excess volume	Non-randomization	None
Li, 202233	Compression pump	To compare the effects of compression therapy and routine nursing in treatment of BCRL	RCT, ≥18 years, both male and female, BRCL	Repeated publications, grey literature, incorrect or incomplete data, or the evaluation index could not be obtained, non-Chinese or English publications, animal experiments	Key Project of Scientific Research in Universities in 2020, no. KJ2020A0221.
Rangon, 202234	Complex physical therapy	Investigate the immediate, short-term, and long-term effects of complex physical therapy and multimodal approaches on BCRL	RCT, a minimum difference of 2 cm and 10% between the upper limbs	Non-English literature	NR
Chen, 20198	Laser therapy	To analyse the effectiveness and safety of laser therapy for the treatment of BCRL	RCT, breast cancer related lymphedema	Studies with inclusion of patients with medical conditions, such as current metastases, pregnancy, photosensitivity, chronic inflammatory diseases, and history of severe trauma	None
Smoot, 20157	Laser therapy	To examine the effectiveness of later therapy in reducing BCRL	Breast cancer related lymphedema, LLLT alone or in combination with other treatments	Primary lymphedema, case studies	Smoot partially supported by the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) K12, Grant Number K12HD052163 NICHD/NIH, and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health, through UCSF-CTSI Grant Number KL2TR000143
Lytvyn, 202010	Exercise and MLD	To evaluate the most common conservative lymphedema treatment strategies for treating cancer-related extremity lymphedema	RCT, ≥18 years, cancer-related extremity lymphedema, published in English	Primary lymphedema, patients at risk of lymphedema	Sadeghirad received a graduate student stipend from Mitacs Canada and received funding from PIPRA AG
Yeung, 201835	Exercise	To review the evidence of aquatic therapy in the management of lymphedema	Lymphedema (primary or secondary)	Non-randomization	None
Kasawara, 20186	Kinesio taping	To evaluate the effects of KT on lymphedema related to breast cancer	Lymphedema after mastectomy	Case reports, congenital or primary lymphedema related to types of cancer other than breast cancer, lymphedema in the lower limbs	NR
Gatt, 20175	Kinesio taping	To determine the effectiveness and safety of KT in the management of cancer related lymphedema	Cancer-related lymphedema	Primary lymphedema, non-randomized	Gatt supported by Malta Government Scholarship Scheme
Hou, 20194	Acupuncture	To explore the efficacy and safety of acupuncture treatment	Breast cancer, >2 cm excess volume	Pregnant or lactating women, patients with severe damage to the heart, liver, and kidney; abnormal bone marrow function; skin ulceration of the affected limb and infectious skin diseases; severe mental disorders, and so forth	Young Scientists Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81804193), the Youth Natural foundation of the Science and Technology Department of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20161083), The Leading Talents Project from Jiangsu Provincial Administration of TCM (SLJ0206) and the peak talent project of Jiangsu Province Hospital of TCM (y2018rc05)
Jang, 202036	Acupuncture	To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture for treatment-induced symptoms in breast cancer patients	Peer-reviewed RCTs. Any stage of breast cancer, including patients with metastasis	Observational studies, cohort studies, case reports, case series, non-RCT studies, animal, and experimental studies	Traditional Korean Medicine R&D Program funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI) (HB16C0072)