Lymphoscintigraphic findings in patients with lipedema.

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
Lymphoscintigraphic findings in patients with lipedema.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Lipedema is a syndrome that is characterised by edema, an accumulation of fat, pain and haematomas in the lower limbs that principally affects women. Diagnosis is currently based on clinical criteria, since there is no accurate diagnostic imaging for the condition. The aim of our study was to describe the lymphoscintigraphic findings in patients with lipedema. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A prospective cohort study of women with clinical criteria of lipedema who underwent lymphoscintigraphy. Two independent nuclear physicians described and classified the lymphoscintigraphy findings in different grades of severity, according to the migration and distribution of the radiopharmaceutical. Eighty three patients were included with a median age of 49.7years (range: 18-80) and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 29.9kg/m(2) (95%CI: 28.4-31.3) RESULTS: Lymphoscintigraphy showed alterations in 47% of the patients, most were low (35.9%) or low-moderate grade (48.7%). None of the patients were severely affected (no migration of the radiopharmaceutical). The degree of lymphoscintigraphic involvement bore no relation to age (P=.674), Stemmer's sign (P=.506), or BMI (P=.832). We found lymphoscintigraphy findings in all the clinical stages of lipedema, with no significant differences between the grade of lymphoscintigraphic involvement and the clinical stage of lipedema (P=.142). CONCLUSION: Although lymphoscintigraphy has been used to differentiate lipedema from lymphedema, we found frequent alterations in the patients with lipedema, therefore the presence of findings dues not discount a diagnosis of lip1aedema.
Publication
Revista espanola de medicina nuclear e imagen molecular
Volume
37
Issue
6
Pages
341-348
Date
2018 Nov-Dec
Journal Abbr
Rev Esp Med Nucl Imagen Mol
Language
spa
ISSN
2253-8070 2253-654X
Rights
Copyright © 2018 Sociedad Española de Medicina Nuclear e Imagen Molecular. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.
Extra
Place: Spain
Citation
Forner-Cordero, I., Oliván-Sasot, P., Ruiz-Llorca, C., & Muñoz-Langa, J. (2018). Lymphoscintigraphic findings in patients with lipedema. Revista espanola de medicina nuclear e imagen molecular, 37(6), 341–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.remn.2018.06.008