Cancer Related Lymphedema

Dear Colleagues,

The last decade has been notable in terms of advances in medical and surgical treatment of lymphedema resulting from cancer treatment (secondary lymphedema). This is particularly important since secondary lymphedema is a morbid and life-long disease that affects a large number of patients treated for solid cancers including breast cancer, melanoma, urologic malignancies, gynecological tumors, and sarcomas. More than 1 in 5 patients treated for these conditions develop secondary lymphedema making lymphedema the most common long-term complication of solid cancer treatment. In fact, it is estimated that nearly 6 million Americans suffer from this disease with resultant significant morbidity and biomedical costs.

The advances in medical and surgical treatments of this disease have been made possible by improvements in surgical techniques and key discoveries that have shed light on the pathophysiology of lymphedema. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate lymphatic degeneration following lymphatic injury has led to clinical trials of medical therapies aiming to reverse these pathways. Indeed, preclinical studies have shown the important role of chronic inflammation, changes in lymphatic smooth muscle cells, tissue fibrosis, lymphatic pumping, and regulation of collateral lymphatic channels.

Similarly, surgical therapies such as lymph node transplantation and lymphovenous bypass have been developed to reverse the pathologic changes of lymphedema and show promise in some settings. These studies have highlighted the importance of presurgical lymphatic imaging, development of novel surgical techniques, and unique challenges in quantifying outcomes following surgery.

This Special Issue aims to summarize our current understanding of the pathophysiology of secondary lymphedema and how this knowledge is used in designing novel medical and surgical therapies for this disease.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Biology.

Dr. Babak J. Mehrara
Dr. Raghu P. Kataru
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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