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Lymphedema following cancer therapy in Slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition?

INTRODUCTION: Secondary lymphedema following cancer therapy is a frequent, often painful, quality of life disturbing condition, reducing the patients’ mobility and predisposing them to complications, e.g. infections and malignancies. The critical aspect of lymphedema therapy is to start as soon as p...

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Autores principales: Rucigaj, Tanja Planinsek, Leskovec, Nada Kecelj, Zunter, Vesna Tlaker
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Versita, Warsaw 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3423708/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22933923
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10019-010-0047-3
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author Rucigaj, Tanja Planinsek
Leskovec, Nada Kecelj
Zunter, Vesna Tlaker
author_facet Rucigaj, Tanja Planinsek
Leskovec, Nada Kecelj
Zunter, Vesna Tlaker
author_sort Rucigaj, Tanja Planinsek
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Secondary lymphedema following cancer therapy is a frequent, often painful, quality of life disturbing condition, reducing the patients’ mobility and predisposing them to complications, e.g. infections and malignancies. The critical aspect of lymphedema therapy is to start as soon as possible to prevent the irreversible tissue damage. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of patients with lymphedema, treated at the Department of Dermatovenereology, University Medical Center Ljubljana, from January 2002 to June 2010. The patients’ demographic and medical data were collected, including type of cancer, type and stage of lymphedema, and time to first therapy of lymphedema. The number of referred patients with lymphedema following the therapy of melanoma, breast cancer, and uterine/cervical cancer, was compared to the number of patients expected to experience lymphedema following cancer therapy, calculated from the incidence reported in the literature. RESULTS: In the period of 8.5 years, 543 patients (432 females, 112 males) with lymphedema were treated. The results show that probably many Slovenian patients with secondary lymphedema following cancer therapy remain unrecognized and untreated or undertreated. In the majority of our patients, the management of lymphedema was delayed; on average, the patients first received therapy for lymphedema 3.6 years after the first signs of lymphedema. CONCLUSIONS: To avoid a delay in diagnosis and therapy, and the complications of lymphedema following cancer therapy, the physician should actively look for signs or symptoms of lymphedema during the follow-up period, and promptly manage or refer the patients developing problems.
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spelling pubmed-34237082012-08-29 Lymphedema following cancer therapy in Slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition? Rucigaj, Tanja Planinsek Leskovec, Nada Kecelj Zunter, Vesna Tlaker Radiol Oncol Research Article INTRODUCTION: Secondary lymphedema following cancer therapy is a frequent, often painful, quality of life disturbing condition, reducing the patients’ mobility and predisposing them to complications, e.g. infections and malignancies. The critical aspect of lymphedema therapy is to start as soon as possible to prevent the irreversible tissue damage. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective study of patients with lymphedema, treated at the Department of Dermatovenereology, University Medical Center Ljubljana, from January 2002 to June 2010. The patients’ demographic and medical data were collected, including type of cancer, type and stage of lymphedema, and time to first therapy of lymphedema. The number of referred patients with lymphedema following the therapy of melanoma, breast cancer, and uterine/cervical cancer, was compared to the number of patients expected to experience lymphedema following cancer therapy, calculated from the incidence reported in the literature. RESULTS: In the period of 8.5 years, 543 patients (432 females, 112 males) with lymphedema were treated. The results show that probably many Slovenian patients with secondary lymphedema following cancer therapy remain unrecognized and untreated or undertreated. In the majority of our patients, the management of lymphedema was delayed; on average, the patients first received therapy for lymphedema 3.6 years after the first signs of lymphedema. CONCLUSIONS: To avoid a delay in diagnosis and therapy, and the complications of lymphedema following cancer therapy, the physician should actively look for signs or symptoms of lymphedema during the follow-up period, and promptly manage or refer the patients developing problems. Versita, Warsaw 2010-11-16 /pmc/articles/PMC3423708/ /pubmed/22933923 http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10019-010-0047-3 Text en Copyright © by Association of Radiology & Oncology http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0 This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
spellingShingle Research Article
Rucigaj, Tanja Planinsek
Leskovec, Nada Kecelj
Zunter, Vesna Tlaker
Lymphedema following cancer therapy in Slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition?
title Lymphedema following cancer therapy in Slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition?
title_full Lymphedema following cancer therapy in Slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition?
title_fullStr Lymphedema following cancer therapy in Slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition?
title_full_unstemmed Lymphedema following cancer therapy in Slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition?
title_short Lymphedema following cancer therapy in Slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition?
title_sort lymphedema following cancer therapy in slovenia: a frequently overlooked condition?
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3423708/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22933923
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10019-010-0047-3
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