Bilateral Changes in Deep Tissue Environment After Manual Lymphatic Drainage in Patients with Breast Cancer Treatment-Related Lymphedema.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Breast cancer treatment-related lymphedema (BCRL) arises from a mechanical insufficiency following cancer therapies. Early BCRL detection and personalized intervention require an improved understanding of the physiological processes that initiate lymphatic impairment. Here, internal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures of the tissue microenvironment were paired with clinical measures of tissue structure to test fundamental hypotheses regarding structural tissue and muscle changes after the commonly used therapeutic intervention of manual lymphatic drainage (MLD).

Methods and results

Measurements to identify lymphatic dysfunction in healthy volunteers (n = 29) and patients with BCRL (n = 16) consisted of (1) limb volume, tissue dielectric constant, and bioelec

SUBMITTER: Donahue PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5369395 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature