Survey of Doppler use in lymphoedema practitioners in the UK.
Lymphoedema practitioners anecdotally don't use Doppler in the vascular assessment of their patients prior to the application of compression. The belief is that the results are inaccurate in the presence of oedema. The objective of this article is to gather information about the use of Doppler by lymphoedema specialists in the vascular assessment of lymphoedema patients in the UK. A questionnaire on the use of Doppler in lymphoedema patients was distributed to 250 delegates attending the British Lymphology Society Conference in Glasgow in Ocotber 2005. There appears to be no consensus in the method of vascular assessment of lymphoedema patients. More research is needed to ascertain the accuracy of Doppler in the assessment of lymphoedema patients. Guidelines are also required in the vascular assessment of lymphoedema patients based on scientifically valid evidence.
Todd
Marie
M
Specialist Lymphoedema Service Glasgow. marie.todd@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Welsh
John
J
Key
Margaret
M
Rice
Margaret
M
Adam
James
J
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D019985:Benchmarking; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D032921:Consensus; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D008209:Lymphedema / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D026761:Physical Therapy Specialty / Q000458:organization & administration; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D036301:Qualitative Research; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D053828:Stockings, Compression; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler / Q000451:nursing / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006113:United Kingdom