title: Changes in quality of life of patients with lymphedema after lymphatic vessel transplantation.
abstract: There are multiple treatment options for patients with chronic lymphedema, and one successful approach is lymph vessel transplantation. As quality of life assessments are frequently not utilized in standard treatment regimes, we investigated the change in quality of life for patients with chronic lymphedema (total = 212) who had undergone lymphatic vessel transplantation and conservative therapy for at least 6 months prior to operation. Quality of life was assessed by a modified standard questionnaire examining the physiological and psychological status of the patients. Results document a significant improvement in quality of life and underscore success of autologous lymphatic vessel transplantation as a therapy for lymphedema.
authors.affiliation: Division of Plastic-, Hand- and Microsurgery, Department of Surgery, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Campus Grosshadern, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Springer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koller
authors.forename: R G H
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Baumeister
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frick
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D042601:Lymphatic Vessels / Q000637:transplantation*; D008209:Lymphedema / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012189:Retrospective Studies