title: Reliability of the Inverse Water Volumetry Method to Measure the Volume of the Upper Limb.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lymphedema of the upper extremity is a common side effect of lymph node dissection or irradiation of the axilla. Several techniques are being applied in order to examine the presence and severity of lymphedema. Measurement of circumference of the upper extremity is most frequently performed. An alternative is the water-displacement method. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability and the reproducibility of the "Inverse Water Volumetry apparatus" (IWV-apparatus) for the measurement of arm volumes.
  
  
  METHODS
  The IWV-apparatus is based on the water-displacement method. Measurements were performed by three breast cancer nurse practitioners on ten healthy volunteers in three weekly sessions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The intra-class correlation coefficient, defined as the ratio of the subject component to the total variance, equaled 0.99. The reliability index is calculated as 0.14 kg. This indicates that only changes in a patient's arm volume measurement of more than 0.14 kg would represent a true change in arm volume, which is about 6% of the mean arm volume of 2.3 kg.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The IWV-apparatus proved to be a reliable and reproducible method to measure arm volume.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, Amphia Hospital , Breda, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Martinus A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Beek
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, Amphia Hospital , Breda, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: te Slaa
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, Amphia Hospital , Breda, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Lijckle
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: van der Laan
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Amphia Academy, Amphia Hospital , Breda, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Paul G H
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Mulder
authors.affiliation: 3 Department of Surgery, Catharina Hospital , Eindhoven, The Netherlands .|4 Department of Surgery, Maastricht University , Maastricht, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Harm J T
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Rutten
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Epidemiology, Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences, Research Institute Growth and Development (GROW), Maastricht University , Maastricht, The Netherlands .|6 Research Department, Comprehensive Cancer Centre the Netherlands , Eindhoven, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Adri C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Voogd
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, Amphia Hospital , Breda, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Ernest J T
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Luiten
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, Amphia Hospital , Breda, The Netherlands .
authors.forename: Paul D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Gobardhan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D064368:Healthy Volunteers; D006801:Humans; D008209:Lymphedema / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000473:pathology; D055815:Young Adult