CINCINNATI (WKRC) - A new study shows there is a way to combat a common complication after breast cancer treatment.
New technology called BIS may help detect what's called lymphedema early enough to potentially stop it. Lymphedema is fluid that builds up after having surgery for cancer.
It's a common complication, but Dr. Hilary Shapiro-Wright, a breast surgeon at Fort Hamilton Hospital, and patient Teresa Anderson want to bring more attention to it.
In this study, researchers were looking at two things: The first thing they were comparing is whether bioimpedance spectroscopy, which is an electrical signal into the extremity, can detect subclinical lymphedema before a tape measure evaluation.
The other thing they wanted to see is if subclinical lymphedema treated early will prevent it from progressing to more clinical lymphedema or more evident symptoms.
Researchers did find it helped not only discover symptoms better than just a traditional tape measure, but it allowed patients to get treatment that, in some cases, Dr. Shapiro-Wright says allowed for interventions that reversed the progression.
She says there are two new options. The first is a surgery to alter the lymphatic symptom to change drainage. The second is for more extensive lymphedema. They can take lymph nodes and transplant them from, for example, the abdomen and -- in a breast cancer patient -- put them under the arm to help with those symptoms.
