One of the most frequent questions we receive concerns infections in patients with lymphedema. Most people want to know how likely they are to get an infection and what they can do to prevent an infection.

Infections are a serious problem in patients with lymphedema. For many patients, an infection triggered lymphedema. Studies estimate that 10 to 15% of patients with lymphedema will develop an infection in the affected limb. We reported the results of 100 patients treated with the ReidSleeve at the NLN conference in September 1998. Among those patients, 12% experienced infections and most had recurrent infections. The most exciting aspect of the study was that, with a mean follow-up of 7.2 months, only 1 pa tient reported an infection after using the ReidSleeve. The single reported infection occurred within the first week of use of the ReidSleeve, before the patient had a chance to have effective reduction. 5 patients were free of infections for more than a year. In addition, we previously reported the case of a patient with multiple, recurrent infections requiring hospitalization for sepsis. She has been free of infections since starting treatment with the ReidSleeve in November 1995. Treatment of lymphedema and recurrent cellulitis. These studies demonstrate that the ReidSleeve can be an effective treatment for lymphedema and that it can significantly reduce the incidence of infections that can exacerbate lymphedema.

Tony Reid MD Ph.D

For those of you who participated in our Live On Line Chat, we would like to thank you, however, due to the inability to find a day and a time to accommodate a majority, we have changed the format. We now have a Messaging Board. If you have a screen name and password from the On Line Chat, that same name and password will now allow entry and use of the Messaging Board. If you do not currently have a screen name and password and would like one to be able to participate in the interactive Message Board, go h ere, Lymphedema Board. From there you may submit for a screen name and password.

The Messaging Board is a great communication avenue for education, support and communicating with other lymphedema patients and health professionals, as well as Peninsula Medical. You can either create a new subject, of which people can respond to, or you can respond to an existing subject.

We hope you find this new Message Board helpful and informative.

AnnDee and Noel from Peninsula Medical had the opportunity to be in Orlando this past weekend for the Lymphedema Awareness Day. It was a delightful experience and a good turnout of patients and health care providers alike. They had the opportunity to meet some of people only previously known through email and telephone. There were quite a few speakers and enough topics that it could have been a two day event. We hope there are more of these events in the future and that awareness of lymphedema grows, subse quently the issues concerning lymphedema are more readily addressed.