Petrek J A, Heelan M C
Department of Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10021, USA.
Cancer. 1998 Dec 15;83(12 Suppl American):2776-81. doi: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0142(19981215)83:12b+<2776::aid-cncr25>3.0.co;2-v.
Of the 2 million breast carcinoma survivors, perhaps 15-20% are living currently with posttreatment lymphedema. Along with the physical discomfort and disfigurement, patients with lymphedema also must cope with the distress derived from these symptoms.
To review the medical literature for the question of lymphedema incidence, a comprehensive, computerized search was performed. All publications with subject headings designating breast carcinoma-related lymphedema from 1970 to the present (116 reports) were found, and each summary or abstract was read. Of the 116 reports, 35 discussed the incidence of lymphedema. Of these, seven reports since 1990 from five countries with the most relevance to current patients were then chosen for greater analysis and comparison.
The incidence of lymphedema ranged from 6% to 30%. The source of patients, length of follow-up, measurement techniques, and definition of lymphedema varied from report to report. In general, reports with shorter follow-up reported lower incidences of lymphedema.
The definitive study to determine the incidence of lymphedema has not been performed to date. There has been no prospective study in which patients have been followed at intervals with accurate measurement techniques over the long term.
在200万乳腺癌幸存者中，目前可能有15% - 20%的人患有治疗后淋巴水肿。除了身体不适和外形改变外，淋巴水肿患者还必须应对这些症状带来的痛苦。
为了回顾关于淋巴水肿发病率问题的医学文献，进行了全面的计算机检索。找到了所有从1970年至今标题中指定与乳腺癌相关淋巴水肿的出版物（116份报告），并阅读了每份综述或摘要。在这116份报告中，35份讨论了淋巴水肿的发病率。其中，选取了自1990年以来来自五个国家且与当前患者最相关的七份报告进行更深入的分析和比较。
淋巴水肿的发病率在6%至30%之间。各报告中患者来源、随访时间、测量技术以及淋巴水肿的定义各不相同。一般来说，随访时间较短的报告中淋巴水肿的发病率较低。
迄今为止尚未进行确定淋巴水肿发病率的权威性研究。目前还没有前瞻性研究对患者进行长期定期随访并采用精确的测量技术。
