Lymphedema: Separating Fact From Fiction - Cancer Network

Lymphedema: Separating Fact From Fiction - Cancer Network

"..... Recently, Cormier et al found only 47 studies between 1972 and 2008 with more than 10 patients that prospectively evaluated lymphedema as a primary or secondary outcome after treatment for melanoma, bladder, sarcoma, penile, prostate, vulvar, cervical, endometrial, or head and neck cancers.[2] The authors’ analysis of these studies demonstrated the overall incidence of lymphedema to be 16.3% after melanoma, 10.1% after genitourinary cancers, and 19.6% after gynecologic malignancies, and notes that lymphedema rates are higher when the lower rather than upper extremity is affected. Given the abundance of breast cancer data, this review will focus on breast cancer–related lymphedema. However, the principles and controversies discussed are relevant regardless of the type of malignancy to which the lymphedema is attributed....."