Vascularized Lymph Node Transfer for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Lower Extremity Lymphedema: A Preliminary Report

Ciudad P.; Huayllani M.T.; Forte A.J.; Boczar D.; Avila F.R.; Escandón J.M.; Manrique O.J.; Chen H.-C. · Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery (2022) · DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1740520

Resumen

Background: Posttraumatic lymphedema develops more frequently than expected and reports on its management are scarce in the literature. We aimed to report the clinical outcomes of a case series of posttraumatic lymphedema patients treated with different vascularized lymph node transfers (VLNTs). Patients and Methods: Five patients with secondary posttraumatic lower limb lymphedema treated with VLNT were included in this report. The groin-VLNT (n = 1), supraclavicular-VLNT (n = 2), and gastroepiploic-VLNT (n = 2) were implemented. The average flap area was 69.8 cm 2. Patients underwent postoperative complex decompressive therapy for an average of 10.0 months. Results: The average mean circumference reduction rate was 24.4% (range, 10.2-37.6%). Postsurgical reduction in the number of infection episodes per year was observed in all patients. The mean follow-up was 34.2 months. Conclusions: VLNT is a promising surgical treatment for posttraumatic lymphedema patients. In our report, VLNT has demonstrated to reduce the volume and number of infections per year in posttraumatic lymphedema.