Incidence of breast lymphedema and predictors of its development in patients receiving whole breast radiation therapy after breast-conservation surgery.

Incidence of breast lymphedema and predictors of its development in patients receiving whole breast radiation therapy after breast-conservation surgery. Lymphology. 2019;52(3):126-133 Authors: Ganju RG, Savvides G, Korentager S, Ward MJ, TenNapel M, Amin A, Wagner J, Mitchell M Abstract One common adverse effect following breast-conservation surgery and adjuvant radiation is lymphedema. While lymphedema of the arm has been well-characterized, there has been less investigation into lymphedema of the breast. We sought to characterize rates of breast lymphedema (BLE) in women with early-stage breast cancer and identify potential predictors in its development. Two hundred and thirty consecutive patients treated with lumpectomy and adjuvant whole breast radiation therapy (WBRT) from January 2016 - June 2017 were included. All patients were seen in our lymphedema monitoring clinic for baseline and at least one follow-up lymphedema measurement. BLE grades were assigned by trained nurses in the lymphedema clinic. Data regarding patient demographic and treatment factors were extracted from the electronic medical record. Comparisons between groups were made using Chi-Square analysis performed in SAS. The median age of the sample was 62 (range 31-90). Median follow-up from surgery was 15.3 months. Forty-three patients were diagnosed with lymphedema of the breast (18.7%). Rates of grade 1 and 2 BLE were 93% and 7%, respectively; there were no ca...
Source: Lymphology - Category: Internal Medicine Tags: Lymphology Source Type: research