Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2024 Oct 23;41(11):296.
doi: 10.1007/s12032-024-02420-7.

Post-operative care for patients following surgical treatment of lymphedema

Ann Marie Flores #  1 , Mei Rosemary Fu #  2 , Karen J Bock  3 , Elizabeth Campione  4 , Kathleen Francis  5 , Corinne Kellerman  6 , Traci L Norris  7 , Stacy Tylka  8
Affiliations
Editorial

Post-operative care for patients following surgical treatment of lymphedema

Ann Marie Flores et al. Med Oncol. .

Abstract

Surgical treatments are promising for the treatment of lymphedema. It is important for patients, healthcare providers, and lymphedema community to understand that surgical treatments currently are not a cure for lymphedema but have provided promising options for patients. Post-operative care for patients following surgical treatment of lymphedema is vital to optimize and sustain patient outcomes. This expert-consensus statement addresses current practice and research needs for standardized post-operative care, a core set of outcome measures, quality of care, and training of healthcare providers. Current research and clinical practice support non-surgical lymphedema therapy, also known as conservative therapy of lymphedema (e.g., compression therapy, or manual lymph drainage, or Complete Decongestive Therapy) as an essential part of post-operative care. Importantly, patient education should focus on patients' understanding that surgery is not a cure and the importance to adhere to post-operative care and life-long self-monitoring to sustain surgical results of limb volume reduction, relief of symptoms, and mitigate known or ongoing risk factors for recurrence of lymphedema. To optimize patient outcomes, it is crucial to have a multidisciplinary professional team consisting of well-qualified and credentialed healthcare providers participating in ongoing training and education. The essentials recommended by this expert-consensus are an initial and foundational step to build clinical standards for best practice and provide directions for future research.

Keywords: Conservative therapy; Lymphedema; Multidisciplinary; Outcomes; Post-operative; Surgery.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Meuli JN, Guiotto M, Elmers J, Mazzolai L, di Summa PG. Outcomes after microsurgical treatment of lymphedema: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Surg. 2023;109(5):1360–72. https://doi.org/10.1097/JS9.0000000000000210 . - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Doubblestein D, Campione E, Hunley J, Schaverien M. Pre- and post-microsurgical rehabilitation interventions and outcomes on breast cancer-related lymphedema: a systematic review. Curr Oncol Rep. 2023;25(9):1031–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-023-01439-9 . - DOI - PubMed - PMC
    1. Ciudad P, Bolletta A, Kaciulyte J, et al. The breast cancer-related lymphedema multidisciplinary approach: algorithm for conservative and multimodal surgical treatment. Microsurgery. 2023;43(5):427–36. https://doi.org/10.1002/micr.30990 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Executive Committee of the International Society of Lymphology. The diagnosis and treatment of peripheral lymphedema: 2020 consensus document of the international society of lymphology. Lymphology. 2020;53(1):3–19.
    1. Bergmann A, Baiocchi JMT, de Andrade MFC. Conservative treatment of lymphedema: the state of the art. J Vasc Bras. 2021;20: e20200091. https://doi.org/10.1590/1677-5449.200091 . - DOI - PubMed - PMC

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources