Advance In Mechanism And Prevention Of Upper Limb Lymphedema After Breast Cancer Operation

Objective： To explore advance in mechanism and prevention of upper limblymphedema after breast cancer operation。Methods： The latest domestic and foreign literature was summarized and analysised.To investigate the mechanism of the upper limb lymphedema after breast canceroperation concerning the obstruction of lymphatic return; to evaluate the effect andstudy the latest research progess of ARM technique in preventing the upper limblymphadema. so as to guide the prevention of upper limb lymphedema in breast cancerResults：Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumor of female, whichshowed a trend of incidence increased gradually and younger in recent years. But withthe improvement of early detection rate and the progress of comprehensive treatment inbreast cancer, most patients’ prognosis has been improved obviously and can achievelong-term survival. How to improve the quality of life in patients has become the focusof the breast cancer research at present. Upper limb lymphedema is of the most seriouscomplications postoperatively in patients with breast cancer, which influence thepostoperative quality of life of patients seriously. Now it is generally believed that themain mechanism of upper limb lymphedema is the axillary lymph node cleaningdestroyed the upper limb lymphatic return pathways,which lead to the upper extremitylymph circumfluence obstacle and that caused upper extremity edema. To explore thesolution of this problem, the domestic and foreign scholars have done a lot of clinicalresearch and follow-up observations, they put forward various methods of preventionand treatment; one of the most effective ways is the ARM technology which is putforward in recent years abroad, its mechanism is based on the pathogenesis of upperlimb lymphedema, the upper limb lymphatic system is marked by tracer in surgery andprotected. That effectively reduce the occurrence of this serious postoperativecomplications. The early research showed that the ARM technology can effectivelyreduce the incidence of upper limb lymphedema after operation, if the technology can be proved effective and widely used in clinical, that will be another technologicalrevolution after breast-conserving therapy, sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) andother surgical methods in breast surgery.Conclusion： The upper limbs lymphatic return pathways of breast cancer patientswere destroyed in the axillary lymph node dissection, lead to upper extremity lymphcircumfluence obstacle is lead to breast cancer patients postoperative importantmechanism of the lateral upper extremity lymphedema. However, the current methodfor upper limb lymphedema after breast cancer treatment effect is poor. In recent yearsand widely research ARM technology from the prevention of lateral upper limb edemaafter breast cancer to prevent the happening of the upper limb lymphedema, earlyresearch also achieved encouraging results. However, there are still some problems inARM technology currently, which need further research to explore; The application ofthe ARM needs multidisciplinary cooperation. If this technology can be developed andwidely used in clinical, It will play a key role in the occurrence preventing postoperativelymphedema in breast cancer patients.