Prevalence and clinical features of lymphedema in patients with lymphangioleiomyomatosis.

Background: Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is a rare cystic lung disease predominantly affecting young women. Some of these patients develop lymphedema of the lower extremities and buttocks; however, neither the exact frequency of LAM-associated lymphedema nor the clinical features of such patients is well delineated.

Objectives: To document the frequency, features, and treatment of LAM-associated lymphedema.

[Effect of lymphedema treatment--the interim report of prospective study at multiple facilities].

We are in the process of analyzing the effect of complex physical therapy (CPT) for the patients of secondary lymphedema associated with cancer treatment. At this time, we present an interim report of the past 3 months started in March 2009. We classified the lymphedema stage into four stages based on the International Society of Lymphology criterion using the imaging diagnosis (US, CT, etc.