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Management of Upper Extremity Lymphoedema with Microsurgical Lympho-Venous Anastomosis (LVA)

  • Corradino Campisi
  • Francesco Boccardo
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Case Report

A 59 year old woman presented with an 8 year history of edema of the left arm. Initially, the edema appeared in the upper arm. The patient was treated with combined decongestive physiotherapy (manual and mechanical lymphatic drainage), bandaging and exercises three to four times over a 12 month period. Despite these measures, the edema later extended to the forearm and hand (Fig. 57.1). In the months preceding her admission she developed several episodes of erysipeloid lymphangitis and pain. There were no warts or wounds on the skin. Her past medical history included lumpectomy with axillary lymphadenectomy and radiotherapy for left breast cancer. There was no suggestion of local recurrence on routine follow-up.
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© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of General SurgeryUniversity Hospital, San MartinoGenoaItaly
  2. 2.Professorial Unit of Medical OncologyUniversity and National Cancer, Research InstituteGenoaItaly

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