A Scoping Review of Lymphedema in Iran

Despite significant publications in cancer survivorship, a scoping review was needed to picture the current interests and achievements of lymphedema research, as well as gaps and opportunities in Iran. Databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Persian databases (SID and MagIran) were searched to collect data. The main topics were divided into four major categories: treatment, prevention, diagnosis, and complications. Moreover, the level of evidence (LoE) was determined based on the Oxford Criteria 2009. After screening, of the 105 articles included in this study, 68 (64.7%) were English. The number of published articles increased to 14 (13.3%) and 56 (53.3%) during the first (2000-2009) and second (2010-2019) decades, respectively. In addition, 32 (30.4%) articles were published during 2020-2023. The majority of articles were related to breast cancer-related lymphedema (64.7%) and interventional trials (46.6%, 18.1% were RCTs), with the LoE of 1 and 2 (44.7%). The topic of treatment was the most investigated topic among the included articles (51.6%), and valuable studies were recently published about the prediction of lymphedema using machine learning and artificial intelligence. This scoping review showed an increasing trend of lymphedema research in Iran during the past years. Most of the research output is focused on the treatment of breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) and studies on animal models and epidemiology of lymphedema are the main gaps in this field.