Audit of skin changes present in referrals to a specialist lymphoedema service.

An audit of 100 new patients attending a specialist lymphoedema clinic revealed 52% presented with chronic oedema. More than half (58%) of the chronic oedema group presented with skin changes whereas 14% of those with lipoedema, 4% with lymphoedema of the arm, and 8% with lymphoedema of the leg developed skin changes. None of the primary lymphoedema group developed skin changes.

Evaluation of study days for community nurses treating chronic oedema.

Effective management of chronic oedema patients in the community requires a collaborative approach between lymphoedema specialists and community nurses. This collaboration improves the outcomes of care, reduces community nurses input, creates better understanding of the roles and allows patients to be treated more locally. Lymphoedema specialists in Glasgow developed study days to complement the skills of community nurses and foster a more collaborative and supportive approach to treating patients with chronic oedema.

Survey of Doppler use in lymphoedema practitioners in the UK.

Lymphoedema practitioners anecdotally don't use Doppler in the vascular assessment of their patients prior to the application of compression. The belief is that the results are inaccurate in the presence of oedema. The objective of this article is to gather information about the use of Doppler by lymphoedema specialists in the vascular assessment of lymphoedema patients in the UK.