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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003279.].
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OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of an early physiotherapy intervention for the prevention of secondary lymphoedema on health-related quality of life in women who also received an education program after breast cancer surgery. METHODS: One hundred and fifty three women diagnosed with unilateral breast cancer (stage I-II) treated with breast surgery, which included axillary lymph-node dissection, from Hospital Príncipe de Asturias, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (Spain) were randomly assigned into two groups. Subjects in early physiotherapy group (n = 76) received a physiotherapy intervention combined with a therapeutic education program; women in the control group (n = 77) received only the therapeutic education program. Both interventions were delivered by two different physiotherapists of Physiotherapy in Women's Health Research Group at Physiotherapy Department of Alcala University. Health related quality of life was measured with EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-BR23 questionnaires in 5 assessments: after surgery just before group interventions started (A1), after the 3-week group interventions finished (A2); and a follow-up period in 3 (A3), 6 (A4) and 12 (A5) months after surgical intervention. RESULTS: Greater change in quality of life was observed for early physiotherapy group arm compared to control group, although no strong statistical evidence was found (p > .05) for most of the dimensions except for physical function and social function areas (p < .003). CONCLUSIONS: The control group with therapeutic education program reported a clear improvement in the perception of quality of life. Adding early physiotherapy to the therapeutic education program did not show statistically significant changes in the global score or in most of the dimensions, but showed an improvement in the physical and social dimensions.