Cancer Treatment Today

Breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL) is a chronic, debilitating disorder that is frequently misdiagnosed, treated too late or not treated at all. Being able to quantitively follow it or predict its onset or severity would be clinically useful. Bioimpedance is one method of obtaining scores that may prove predictive with followup and over time.  The L-Dex XCA is a bioimpedance analyzer designed to assist in the clinical assessment of unilateral

Lymphedema pumps (pneumatic compression devices) are generally considered medically necessary for home use for the treatment of lymphedema if the member has undergone a four-week trial of conservative therapy and the treating doctor determines that there has been no significant improvement or if significant symptoms remain after the trial. The ReidSleeve® (Peninsula Medical, Inc., Scotts Valley, CA) is a custom-fitted, non-elastic sleeve that provides

Although pneumatic pumps have been used for many years to treat lymphedema, studies have conflicted on their effectiveness. For example, the 2009 McMaster University Evidence-based Practice Centre (building on an earlier study in 1998 by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Technology Evaluation Center) comparing the efficacy of different types of pneumatic extremity pumps found there was " insufficient evidence to permit conclusions regarding whether the