From the first moment
my wife discovered she had breast cancer, there was a deafening silence from
the men I know. Even ones whose wives, mothers or girlfriends had breast cancer
seemed to have received a gag order from some Central Cancer Command and did
little more than mumble about the experience. Not one to shut up for any known
reason, I started this blog…
Every month, I’ll be
highlighting breast cancer research that is going on RIGHT NOW! Harvested from
different websites, journals and podcasts, I’ll translate them into
understandable English and share them with you. Today: A Randomized Trial Evaluating Bioimpedance Spectroscopy versus Tape
Measurement in the Prevention of Lymphedema following Locoregional Treatment
for Breast Cancer-Impedimed, Brisbane, QLD, Australia (Role:PI)
Major Goals: To determine if subclinical
detection of extracellular fluid accumulation (lymphedema) via bioimpedance
spectroscopy and subsequent early lymphedema intervention with a compression
sleeve and gauntlet reduce the rate of lymphedema progression requiring
Complete Decongestive Physiotherapy relative to rates seen using standard tape
measurements; AND http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141003135126.htm
I know I keep cycling back to it, but LYMPHEDEMA is an issue
that will be with my wife for the rest of her life.
Current research is looking at ways of early detection (my
wife was told for over a year that “There’s nothing wrong.” Until she found a
therapist who was scandalized by the ludicrous denials of people who know
better. (You want to talk about “deniers” – climate deniers and their shrill
accusers have it easy. No one’s going to die immediately if neither one is
right or wrong. “Lymphedema deniers” are a danger to thousands of women here
and now.))
So – what is bioimpedance? “BIA was first used over 30 years
ago to measure the total water content of the body. The method involves passing
an extremely low strength electrical current through the body and measuring the
impedance to the flow of this current.” This low frequency electrical current
can go through the fluid BETWEEN the cells, but it can’t pass through the
membrane that holds the cell together. By measuring how much resistance – or impedance
– there is to the current, doctors and technicians can measure EXACTLY how much
fluid there is.
Lymphedema, as you know by now, is the accumulation of lymph
(the body fluid that carries white blood cells to fight
infection) in certain parts of the body. Under normal circumstances, lymph is
moved to an injury, fights the invaders, then is whisked away to another
battlefield or be recycled and reprocessed for the next generation of wbcs.
In lymphedema, those cells arrive via the lymph system, a
layer of tubes that roughly parallels the blood vessels (it has NO HEART TO
PUMP IT THOUGH). Lymph is driven through those vessels by a combination of
muscle movement squeezing the vessels and by compression of the lymph nodes,
where the lymph is stored. In a breast cancer patient, those nodes also become
cancerous and have to be taken out. Lymph movement then becomes limited and
slower than normal. Lymph builds up in an affected area, unable to move…which
puts pressure on the lymph vessels, blocking what movement there is…and that
where you have lymphedema.
So what can bioimpedance discover? Lymphedema at the
earliest possible stage where it can be IMMEDIATELY treated and brought under
control; and doctors can have a far more accurate measure of the rate that it
is happening – and the success of treatment. The only way to measure lymphedema
up until now is using a dress tape and wrapping it around the arm at various
places…and WHAT century does that remind you of?
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