Page 8 - News VLU 05 JUN 2024

Vein & Lymphatic University
VLU voices

RESEARCH CORNER. VLU is excited to announce a new initiative focusing on a
new research article with cutting edge new ideas that can
change clinical practice!
Beyond the Bandage: Empowering Patients

with Effective Lymphedema Management

Viren S Sehgal, Brandon Eric Ruggeberg, Michael James
Article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10931544/

The study shines a light on the impor- healthcare savings without compromising
tance of effectively managing lymphe- patient care. Overall, the insights from
dema, by comparing the effectiveness of this study offer promising directions for
intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) optimizing lymphedema maintenance the-
compared with the main therapy for com- rapy, aiming to strike a balance between
plex decongestive therapy (CDT), manual treatment efficacy, patient comfort, and
lymphatic drainage (MLD). Both MLD and healthcare resource utilization.
1
IPC were performed in extremities suffe-
ring from lymphedema in two-day inter- 1 .Mendoza E, Amsler F. Effectiveness of
vals, then therapies were quantified with manual lymphatic drainage and intermittent
volume measurement of the limb and a pneumatic compression in lymphedema
questionnaire for subjective symptoms. maintenance therapy. Vasa. 2023;52(6):423-
This study found no significant difference 431. doi:10.1024/0301-1526/a001090
between either therapy in the effective- 2 .Schara M, Zeng M, Jumet B, Preston DJ.
ness for CDT, both for volume measure- A low-cost wearable device for portable se-
ment or subjective symptoms. Concluding quential compression therapy. Front Robot
that IPC is comparable, and not inferior, to AI. 2022;9:1012862. Published 2022 Nov
the primary therapy for lymphedema. Fur- 14. doi:10.3389/frobt.2022.1012862
thermore, IPC care is more cost-effective
than other therapies. A shift towards more
2
frequent IPC use, with fewer MLD ses-
sions annually, could lead to substantial

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