title: Comparative study between mobile infrared optoelectronic volumetry with a Perometer and two commonly used methods for the evaluation of arm volume in patients with breast cancer related lymphedema of the arm.
abstract: There is no consensus on the definition of Breast Cancer Related Lymphedema of the arm (BCRL) because there are no agreed standards in measurement methods and diagnostic criteria. The main objective of this study is to compare mobile infrared optoelectronic volumetry with a Perometer with two commonly used methods for the evaluation of arm volume in patients with different degrees of BCRL. Bilateral arm volumes of eighty participants, with and without clinical BCRL, were calculated with a mobile Perometer, by water displacement, and with circumferential measurements, integrated in the frustrum, single frustrum, and disc model method. The ICC of the Perometer was between 0.997 and 0.999. The frustrum and disc model method produced the largest volume measurements and water displacement the smallest, while Perometer measures were in between. On average, volume of the dominant arm was found to be 2.2% higher than the non-dominant arm in the healthy control group, cautioning for intra- patient differences between both arms when comparing ipsilateral to contralateral arm for the diagnosis of BCRL with a threshold value. Future research would likely benefit from the use of the Perometer compared to the other arm volume evaluation tools for BCRL, and further, the single frustrum method should not be used for volume estimations of edematous arms.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Adriaenssens
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buyl
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lievens
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fontaine
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lamote
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D001132:Arm / Q000473:pathology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007259:Infrared Rays; D008209:Lymphedema / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis