Breast cancer-related lymphedema is a major complication of breast cancer surgery. The lymphatic microsurgical preventive healing approach, a surgical technique that can prevent breast cancer-related lymphedema, creates a lymphovenous bypass between the damaged axillary lymphatics during axillary lymph node dissection and the axillary vein. We report a case using the unilateral lymphatic microsurgical preventive healing approach in a patient with bilateral breast cancer. A 58-year-old woman diagnosed with bilateral invasive ductal carcinoma underwent a bilateral nipple-sparing mastectomy. The lymphatic microsurgical preventive healing approach was performed on the left side after axillary lymph node dissection; the lymphatic microsurgical preventive healing approach was not performed after axillary sentinel lymph node biopsy on the right side. Six months after the surgery, MD Anderson Cancer Center stage 2 lymphedema was observed in the lymphography images of the right arm, where the lymphatic microsurgical preventive healing approach had not been performed.
Simplified Lymphatic Microsurgical Preventing Healing Approach (SLYMPHA) for the Prevention of Breast Cancer-related Lymphedema after Axillary Lymph Node Dissection
