Surgical management of lymphedema: prophylactic and therapeutic operations.

Purpose Of Review: Lymphedema is chronic limb swelling from lymphatic dysfunction and is currently incurable. Breast-cancer related lymphedema (BCRL) affects up to 5 million Americans and occurs in one-third of breast cancer survivors following axillary lymph node dissection. Compression remains the mainstay of therapy.

Evaluating Operative Times for Intraoperative Conversion of Axillary Node Biopsy to Axillary Lymph Node Dissection with Immediate Lymphatic Reconstruction.

Background:  Lymphedema can occur in patients undergoing axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) and radiation for breast cancer. Immediate lymphatic reconstruction (ILR) is performed to decrease the risk of lymphedema in patients after ALND. Some patients who ultimately require ALND are candidates for attempted sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) or targeted axillary excision.

Axillary Pathologic Complete Response in Inflammatory Breast Cancer Patients: Implications for SLNB?

Background: Sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) is increasingly utilized after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in responsive adenopathy, particularly with placement of a marking clip in the involved node(s). This may allow a subset of patients to avoid axillary lymph node dissection. SLNB is still discouraged in inflammatory breast cancer (IBC).

Effects of early combinatorial treatment of autologous split-thickness skin grafts in red duroc pig model using pulsed dye laser and fractional CO laser.

Background And Objective: The use of pulsed dye laser (PDL) and fractional CO (FX CO ) laser therapy to treat and/or prevent scarring following burn injury is becoming more widespread with a number of studies reporting reduction in scar erythema and pruritus following treatment with lasers. While the majority of studies report positive outcomes following PDL or FX CO therapy, a number of studies have reported no benefit or worsening of the scar following treatment. The objective of this study was to directly compare the efficacy of PDL, FX CO , and PDL + FX CO laser therapy in reducing scarring post burn injury and autografting in a standardized animal model.