Surgery in Congential Lymphedema: A Follow-Up of 50 Years

Abstract

Surgical methods have been widely used in the past to treat patients with congential lymphedema. There are only scant data in recent literature about the long-term outcome of these mostly historical methods. On the other hand, the subject is not only of interest to those concerned with the history of medicine but also may raise a couple of questions about treating such patients today. The authors report on a 77-year-old female patient with congential lymphedema with a 50-year follow-up after lymphedema resection and focus on practical problems of bandaging today.

Management of lymphedema

“…In addition, success rates have been shown to be related to the patients' selection such as recent‐onset secondary lymphedema without a venous hypertension or without a previous history of inflammation (cellulitis/lymphangitis). Patients with an early diagnosis of lymphedema have been shown to have retained intrinsic contractility of the lymphatics and lack of the chronic inflammatory changes .…”