Journal «Angiology and Vascular Surgery» • 

2005 • VOLUME 11 • №2

THE MODERN CONCEPT OF THE TACTICS OF CONSERVATIVE AND COMBINED TREATMENT OF LIMB LYMPHEDEMA

A. Malinin, A.H. Bakulev
Scientific Center of Cardiovascular Surgery,
Russian Academy of Medical Sciences,
Moscow, Russia

The paper is concerned with the general problems of the tactics and stages of conservative and combined treatment of limb lymphedema using compression therapy techniques. The data presented herein cover both our own studies and the reported materials which are grouped so as to understand the basic principle of the concept of combined therapy for lymph edema (CTLE). The treatment presumes the use of two main variants in the form of CTLE as an independent method of conservative treatment of lymphedema and CTLE as a program coupled with surgical operations. The treatment policy for lymphedema involves two basic stages: hospital and prophylactic. The hospital program of the CTLE includes technologies acting on different pathogenetic components of lymphedema. In primary lymphedema, the hospital treatment allows to minimize lymphedema to 36% and in secondary to 4 – 4% of the initial parameters. During the prophylactic period, edema regression is appreciably delayed or does not take place at all. The next stage aimed at edema decrease is followed by a course of hospital CTLE which, as dependent on lymphedema severity, is carried out 1–4 times a year.The main principle of a current approach to the treatment of lymphedema is based on the concept of multimodality independent or combined treatment. The accuracy of this principle observance predetermines the efficacy of the results obtained.

KEY WORDS: lymphedema, compression therapy, medical compression tricot, elastic stockings.

P. 69

« Back