Hot of the Press December 2021
We have collated some great articles and material published over the last month. Click on the links below to read the abstract or download the full paper.
Anatomy / Physiology /Pathophysiology
Hardness Sensed by Skin Palpation in Legs with Lymphedema Is Predominantly Correlated with Dermal Thickening- click for abstract
Hardness Sensed by Skin Palpation in Legs with Lymphedema Is Predominantly Correlated with Dermal Thickening
Prevalence and Risk Factors
Lymphedema and Sports: A Case Series of Athletic Patients - click for abstract
Lymphedema and Sports: A Case Series of Athletic Patients
Assessment
Use of Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry to Assess Soft Tissue Composition in Breast Cancer Survivors With and Without Lymphedema - click for abstract
Use of Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry to Assess Soft Tissue Composition in Breast Cancer Survivors With and Without Lymphedema
In patients with lymphedema (LE), in addition to hand dominance, between-group comparisons of interlimb soft tissue differences need to account for differences in whole-body adiposity, measured directly by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or indirectly by body mass index. No study has evaluated the effects of hand dominance and whole-body adiposity on limb composition in patients with LE. This study’s purpose was to compare soft tissue composition of affected and unaffected limbs of women with breast cancer, who did and did not have LE, controlling for dominance and percent body fat.
Methods and Results: Whole-body DXA scans were acquired and included measures of percent body fat, upper limb total mass, upper limb fat mass, and upper limb fat-free mass. Participants were classified into one of three groups: women without LE; women with only subjective LE; and women with objective signs of LE at the time of assessment. Differences among the LE groups were evaluated using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Chi-square analyses. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to control for percent body fat and for the affected limb dominance. Compared to women without LE, women with objective signs of LE have greater total limb mass, fat mass, and fat-free mass in their affected limbs, independent of affected side dominance and percent body fat. In addition, the interlimb differences in total mass, fat mass, and fat-free mass were greater for the women with objective signs of LE, compared to the other two groups.
Conclusions: DXA is useful in identifying soft tissue changes in patients with LE. Given that limb circumferences measure only changes in limb volume and that bioimpedance provides estimates of extracellular fluid, DXA has the advantage of being able to estimate the volumes of specific tissues in the limb.
Living with lymphoedema: children‘s and young people’s perspectives - click for abstract
Living with lymphoedema: children’s and young people’s perspectives
Ultrasound for the Objective Measurement of Breast Lymphedema - click for abstract
Ultrasound for the Objective Measurement of Breast Lymphedema
Measurement Properties of the Lymphedema Life Impact Scale - click for abstract
Measurement Properties of the Lymphedema Life Impact Scale
Management Strategies
Introducing the new Chronic Oedema Wet Leg Pathway - click for abstract
Introducing the new Chronic Oedema Wet Leg Pathway
How Can Adjustable Velcro Wraps Help in the Management of Lymphedema in the Absence of Complex Physical Therapy Facilities - click for abstract
How Can Adjustable Velcro Wraps Help in the Management of Lymphedema in the Absence of Complex Physical Therapy Facilities
Genital Lymphedema and How to Deal with It: Pearls and Pitfalls from over 38 Years of Experience with Unusual Lymphatic System Impairment