PREDICTIVE FACTOR OF LYMPHEDEMA OF ARM IN BREAST CANCER PATIENTS

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of breast cancer-related lymphedema (LE), time of onset, and associated predictive factors. The authors measured differences in the upper arm, lower arm and wrist circumference in 348 postoperative patients with breast cancer who visited our hospital between November 2005 and August 2006.
Eighty-eight of the 348 patients developed LE. The 5-year incidence of LE was 31.9%. Factors that were significant in the development of LE as determined with univariate analysis were the following : level of axillary dissection, use of supraclavicular irradiation, clinical T factor, pathologic node status, the number of lymph nodes with positive pathologic findings, age, and BMI. The set of variables that was significant in univariate analysis was entered in a step-wise Cox procedure. The results indicated that the variables significantly associated with the development of LE were BMI, pathologic node status, and use of supraclavicular irradiation.