Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Quantitative bioimpedance spectroscopy for the assessment of lymphoedema

  • Preclinical Study
  • Published:
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim was to make bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) quantitative for assessment of lymphoedema. Apparent resistivity coefficients were determined for the intra- and extracellular water of arms in a control cohort of women (n = 66). These coefficients were used to predict water volumes in the arms of women with lymphoedema (n = 23) and a separate control group without lymphoedema (n = 13) and to compare these with total arm size measured by perometry. Total arm volume was highly correlated (r = 0.80–0.90) with arm fluid volumes predicted by BIS and the proportional increase in arm size predicted by BIS was not significantly different to that measured by perometry. BIS predicted that the increased volume in the women with lymphoedema was predominantly (60%) due to increase in extracellular fluid. BIS is capable of quantifying the volume increase in limb size seen in lymphoedema.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Tissue fluids contain dissolved solids, e.g. ∼6% in extracellular fluid [18]. Since measurement methods actually measure water volumes, we have used the terms TBW, ECW and ICW.

References

  1. Petrek JA, Heelan MC (1998) Incidence of breast carcinoma-related lymphedema. Cancer 83:2776–2781. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19981215)83:12B+<2776::AID-CNCR25>3.0.CO;2-V

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Meneses KD, McNees MP (2007) Upper extremity lymphedema after treatment for breast cancer: a review of the literature. Ostomy Wound Manage 53:16–29

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Erickson VS, Pearson ML, Ganz PA et al (2001) Arm edema in breast cancer patients. J Natl Cancer Inst 93:96–111. doi:10.1093/jnci/93.2.96

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Sener SF, Winchester DJ, Martz CH et al (2001) Lymphedema after sentinel lymphadenectomy for breast carcinoma. Cancer 92:748–752. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(20010815)92:4<748::AID-CNCR1378>3.0.CO;2-V

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Clark B, Sitzia J, Harlow W (2005) Incidence and risk of arm oedema following treatment for breast cancer: a three-year follow-up study. QJM 98:343–348. doi:10.1093/qjmed/hci053

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Warren AG, Brorson H, Borud LJ et al (2007) Lymphedema: a comprehensive review. Ann Plast Surg 59:464–472. doi:10.1097/01.sap.0000258449.23979.3f

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Petrek JA (2001) Lymphedema in a cohort of breast carcinoma survivors 20 years after diagnosis. Cancer 92:1368–1377. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(20010915)92:6<1368::AID-CNCR1459>3.0.CO;2-9

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Szuba A, Rockson SG (1998) Lymphedema: classification, diagnosis and therapy. Vasc Med 3:145–156

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sander AP, Hajer NM, Hemenway K et al (2002) Upper-extremity volume measurements in women with lymphedema: a comparison of measurements obtained via water displacement with geometrically determined volume. Phys Ther 82:1201–1212

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Tiwari A, Cheng KS, Button M et al (2003) Differential diagnosis, investigation, and current treatment of lower limb lymphedema. Arch Surg 138:152–161. doi:10.1001/archsurg.138.2.152

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Ward L, Bunce I, Cornish B et al (1992) Multifrequency bioelectrical impedance augments the diagnosis and management of lymphoedema in post-mastectomy patients. Eur J Clin Invest 22:751–754. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2362.1992.tb01440.x

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cornish B, Chapman M, Hirst C et al (2001) Early diagnosis of lymphoedema using multiple frequency bioimpedance. Lymphology 34:2–11

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Ward LC (2006) Bioelectrical impedance analysis: proven utility in lymphoedema risk assessment and therapeutic monitoring. Lymphat Res Biol 4:51–56. doi:10.1089/lrb.2006.4.51

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Hayes S, Cornish B, Newman B (2005) Comparison of methods to diagnose lymphoedema among breast cancer survivors: 6-month follow-up. Breast Cancer Res Treat 89:221–226. doi:10.1007/s10549-004-2045-x

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. York SL, Ward LC, Czerniec S et al (2008) Single frequency versus bioimpedance spectroscopy for the assessment of lymphedema. Breast Cancer Res Treat. doi:10.1007/s10549-008-0090-6

  16. Cornish BH, Bunce IH, Ward LC et al (1996) Bioelectrical impedance for monitoring the efficacy of lymphoedema treatment programmes. Breast Cancer Res Treat 38:169–176. doi:10.1007/BF01806671

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Ward LC, Kilbreath SL, Cornish BH (2008) Bioelectrical impedance analysis for early detection of lymphoedema. In: Weissleder H, Schuchhardt C (eds) Lymphedema Diagnosis and Therapy 4th edn. Viavital Verlag Gmbh Publ, Essen, pp 502–517

    Google Scholar 

  18. Schoeller DA (1996) Hydrometry. In: Roche AF, Heymsfield SB, Lohman TG (eds) Human body composition, 1st edn. Human Kinetics, Champaign, pp 25–44

    Google Scholar 

  19. Stanton AW, Northfield JW, Holroyd B et al (1997) Validation of an optoelectronic limb volumeter (Perometer). Lymphology 30:77–97

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Johansson K, Ingvar C, Albertsson M et al (2001) Arm lymphoedema, shoulder mobility and muscle strength after breast cancer treatment—a prospective 2-year study. Adv Physiother 3:55–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Cornish BH, Jacobs A, Thomas BJ et al (1999) Optimizing electrode sites for segmental bioimpedance measurements. Physiol Meas 20:241–250. doi:10.1088/0967-3334/20/3/302

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Ward LC, Dyer JM, Byrne NM et al (2007) Validation of a three-frequency bioimpedance spectroscopic method for body composition analysis. Nutrition 23:657–664. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2007.06.009

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Zhu F, Kuhlmann MK, Kaysen GA et al (2006) Segment-specific resistivity improves body fluid volume estimates from bioimpedance spectroscopy in hemodialysis patients. J Appl Physiol 100:717–724. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00669.2005

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Sharpe K, Ward L, Cichero J et al (2007) Thickened fluids and water absorption in rats and humans. Dysphagia 22:193–203. doi:10.1007/s00455-006-9072-1

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Impedimed Ltd (2008) What you should know about lymphedema and breast cancer. http://www.l-dex.com/. Accessed 10th August 2008

  26. Pheasant S (1990) Body space anthropometry, ergonomics and the design of work. Taylor and Francis, London, UK

    Google Scholar 

  27. Isenring E, Ward LC, Bengston J et al (2007) Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) predicts limb composition compared with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Nutr Diet 65(Suppl 2):A7–A8

    Google Scholar 

  28. Lin LI (1989) A concordance correlation coefficient to evaluate reproducibility. Biometrics 45:255–268. doi:10.2307/2532051

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Ward LC, Isenring E, Dyer J et al (2008) Constancy of resistivity coefficients for bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS). Int J Body Compos Res 6:63–64

    Google Scholar 

  30. Azinge EC, Mabayoje M, Ward LC (2003) Body proportions in three Nigerian tribes. Acta Diabetol 40(Suppl 1):S317–S319. doi:10.1007/s00592-003-0097-8

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The willing participation of the volunteers is gratefully acknowledged.

Conflict of interest

Author Ward has consulted to Impedimed Ltd. Impedimed Ltd. had no involvement, financial or otherwise, in the conception and execution of this study or in the preparation of the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Molecular and Microbial Sciences, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    L. C. Ward

  2. Breast Cancer Research Group, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    S. Czerniec & S. L. Kilbreath

Authors
  1. L. C. Ward
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. Czerniec
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S. L. Kilbreath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. C. Ward.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ward, L.C., Czerniec, S. & Kilbreath, S.L. Quantitative bioimpedance spectroscopy for the assessment of lymphoedema. Breast Cancer Res Treat 117, 541–547 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-008-0258-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-008-0258-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation