Atlas: Impact of Lymphoscintigraphy in Evaluation of the Lymphedema at Lower Extremity

Abstract

Lymphedema of the extremity is a chronic debilitating disease that is edema from chronic lymphatic insufficiency and frequently misdiagnosed, treated too late, or not treated at all. The effective therapy for lymphedema can be implemented, particularly after the disorder is properly diagnosed and characterized with lymphoscintigraphy. The lymphoscintigraphy is the most common and effective method to determine whether the limb swelling is due to lymphedema and follow-up study after proper management. For effective use of lymphoscintigraphy to plan therapy, it is necessary to understanding pathophysiology of lymphedema and the influence of technical factors such as selection of the radiopharmaceuticals, imaging times after injection, and patient activity after injection on the images. Several clinical cases of lymphoscintigraphy will be presented with depicting typical lymphoscintigraphic findings and their clinical applications.