Of Pressing Concern

For a condition that affects 1 to 3 percent of the U.S. population and one out of every five mastectomy patients, lymphedema and the equipment to treat it aren't hot topics in the home care industry.

Lymphedema is a disorder of the lymphatic system which parallels the body's circulatory system. According to Deborah Gross, vice president of marketing for Manalapan, N.J.-based manufacturer Lympha Press, "The lymphatic system is like a sewer system. The water drains out of the capillaries, gets picked up, purified, drained, junk gets taken out and it goes back for recycling. This happens every day. Your body recycles quarts and quarts of lymphatic fluid every day."

However, in a system affected by lymphedema, the body's recycling system has been obstructed; pipes have been cut or made of the wrong material or are the wrong shape, causing blockage. If one of the lymphatic system's intersections — the lymph nodes — is compromised, the fluid gets stuck and causes swelling, or edema.

In the world's eastern regions, lymph node disruption is usually triggered by a bug bite. In the western world, however, it is common to acquire secondary lymphedema following a surgery in which lymph nodes are dissected or removed. After tissue is removed from a mastectomy, for example, the area may be blasted with radiation, which damages healthy tissue and can damage lymphatic channels as well.

Congenital lymphedema, sometimes called primary lymphedema, is also possible. And, lymphedema can begin for no apparent reason.

Seen in both women and men, lymphedema can affect upper extremities such as arms, underarms, the chest or back area as well as the truncal area. Lower extremities can also be affected, such as the feet, legs or genitalia. The swollen limbs may become vulnerable to infection, and repeated infection can cause scarring that makes the tissue vulnerable to more swelling and infection. In some cases lymphedema becomes chronic, and the condition becomes progressively debilitating.

"These people become restricted in their mobility and become exacerbated and become upset, and they eat and become obese and it builds and builds," Gross says. "Lymphedema has been neglected for many, many years. It is disfiguring, disabling, debilitating, it hurts and it's something that needs to be treated."