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Predictive value of lymphoscintigraphy in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema undergoing complex decongestive therapy

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Abstract

Purpose

We evaluated the prognostic value of lymphoscintigraphy after complex decongestive therapy (CDT) in breast cancer-related secondary lymphedema.

Methods

Prior to CDT, 80 patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema underwent a 99mTc tin-colloid lymphoscintigram. We investigated the uptake patterns of axillary lymph nodes (LNs), main lymphatic vessels, collateral lymphatic vessels, and dermal back flow in the lymphoscintigraphy of the upper extremities. We also compared the above findings with other clinical variables between patients who respond well to CDT (responders) and those who do not (poor responders). We used Pearson’s χ2 test and Fisher’s exact test to compare the lymphoscintigram findings with the studied variables.

Results

There were 50 poor responders and 30 responders 1 year after CDT. There were significant differences between the two groups with regard to compliance (P < 0.05) and visualization of axillary LNs (P < 0.05). In combined results, the odds ratio was 21.33 (2.37–192.03) in the compliance and visible axillary LNs group compared to the poor compliance and invisible axillary LNs group.

Conclusion

Lymphoscintigraphy of the upper extremities can be a useful tool to predict the prognosis of CDT in breast cancer-related lymphedema patients.

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Funding

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Author notes

  1. Young Hwan Kim and Ji Hye Hwang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Young Hwan Kim

  2. Department of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Ji Hye Hwang

  3. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 81 Irwon-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, 06351, Republic of Korea

    Ji Hoon Bae & Joon Young Choi

Authors
  1. Young Hwan Kim
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  2. Ji Hye Hwang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joon Young Choi.

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Conflict of interest

All the authors declare that he or she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

It was waived since it was a retrospective analytic study. The ethics committee of our institution reviewed and approved this study protocol (IRB No. 2018-07-109).

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Kim, Y.H., Hwang, J.H., Bae, J.H. et al. Predictive value of lymphoscintigraphy in patients with breast cancer-related lymphedema undergoing complex decongestive therapy. Breast Cancer Res Treat 173, 735–741 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-018-5041-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-018-5041-2

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