Affiliations: [a] Division of Plastic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA | [b] Department of Plastic Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA | [c] Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Burn Surgery, Arzobispo Loayza National Hospital, Lima, Peru | [d] Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA | [e] Department of Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: Antonio J. Forte, MD, PhD, MS, Department of Surgery, Mayo Clinic, 4500 San Pablo Rd, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. Tel.: +1 904 953 2073; Fax: +1 904 953 7368; E-mail: ajvforte@yahoo.com.br
Abstract: BACKGROUND:Bioimpedance spectroscopy has been suggested as a useful tool for early diagnosis of breast cancer–related lymphedema (BCRL). We aimed to describe the outcomes of published studies that evaluated bioimpedance analysis as a method for prospective surveillance and early diagnosis of BCRL. METHODS:We queried the PubMed, Ovid Medline, and EMBASE databases to identify studies that evaluated use of bioimpedance spectroscopy as a diagnostic tool. We used the keywords “bioimpedance” AND (“lymphedema” OR “lymphoedema”) in the search. Only English-language studies that reported quantitative outcomes for patients with BCRL were included. RESULTS:Of 152, 235 and 116 identified articles in PubMed, Ovid Medline and EMBASE databases, only 22 were included. Use of bioimpedance analysis for prospective surveillance has been shown to prevent chronic BCRL. All the cross-sectional and retrospective studies that evaluated bioimpedance for diagnosis of BCRL reported significantly different L-Dex scores between lymphedema patients and healthy participants; in addition, bioimpedance scores were positively correlated with volume of lymphedema. CONCLUSION:Bioimpedance analysis is a potential tool with demonstrated benefits for prevention of chronic BCRL and may be an economic and great alternative for early diagnosis of BCRL.
Keywords: Bioimpedance, surveillance, diagnosis, breast cancer, lymphedema
DOI: 10.3233/BD-201008
Journal: Breast Disease, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 85-93, 2021
