Affiliations: [a] Division of Plastic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Antonio J. Forte, MD, PhD, Division of Plastic 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:Breast cancer is the most frequent cause of secondary lymphedema. Besides being progressive and chronic, lymphedema is usually hard to treat. That is why the clinicians are more focused on the prevention of its development and progression. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study is to evaluate the possible relationship between the age of patients and the severity of breast cancer-related lymphedema (BCRL). METHODS:PubMed, Scopus, and Ovid MEDLINE databases were searched for articles, which described the relationship between aging and BCRL development. Two authors searched for and selected articles independently. RESULTS:Out of 562 studies selected, 8 studies met the inclusion criteria. However, 2 papers had the same study population, so only 7 were included in the final analysis. The total number of patients in those 7 studies was 3,904. Five out of 7 studies included in our review depicted the association of more severe forms of BCRL with older age. CONCLUSION:The final analysis showed that aging is related to the severity of BCRL. However, due to heterogeneity in study outcome reporting, the cause and effect relationship could not be determined.
Keywords: Aging, breast cancer-related lymphedema, iatrogenic lymphedema, lymphedema progression, secondary lymphedema, severe lymphedema
DOI: 10.3233/BD-201067
Journal: Breast Disease, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 191-197, 2021
