Recently one of our readers asked whether breast reconstruction after mastectomy caused or worsened lymphedema. As I mentioned in the last eNews, there is very little information available to answer this question. I think this is an important question, especially as more women are asking their doctors about lymphedema. Sometimes, lymphedema will get worse for a few weeks or months and then improve. So, it would be important to know how much worse the lymphedema got and how long it took to go away. If the l ymphedema did not go away completely after reconstruction, how much lymphedema remained after the reconstruction? It is also important to know whether there were any unusual complications of the surgery such as infections or trauma that might increase the risk for developing lymphedema. I hope this is helpful and will report on the results as we get information.

If you would like to participate in this survey, please click here.

Tony Reid MD Ph.D

We just got back from a wonderful 3 days in Denver. The event was the Guthrie Lymphedema Conference. It was organized by Guenter Klose and felt that it was very organized and were impressed. Guenter did an excellent job! It was very educating and as always it is so great to put faces with voices. So many of our relationships are over the telephone and we always enjoy the opportunity to share a hug with people known previously as a voice. These events always remind us of how small the world of lymphedema ac tually is.

The focus of this conference was to provide additional education to the healthcare providers that treat lymphedema. Peninsula Medical tries to get out to as many events as possible; to help support the common goal of lymphedema awareness and making education available.

We are extremely happy to announce that the Adaptive Device Program (ADP) in Ontario, Canada has now approved the ReidSleeve Classic (upper and lower extremity). Patients who are covered under ADP (in Ontario) can now go to an authorized distributor and have this product covered if they meet the eligibility criteria.

Eligibility criteria for funding of the ReidSleeve Classic; Applicants must have a diagnosis of primary or secondary lymphedema and require the use of the ReidSleeve for longer than six (6) months of regular daily/nightly use. It must be determined that the patient can not maintain/control their condition with bandaging. Contributing factors to patient's inability to maintain their condition with bandages may include; a high density edema, multiple skin folds, complicated shape of extremity and inability t o apply bandages.

We applaud ADP for recognizing the need to cover this product for lymphedema. There were many people that worked hard to get this through, an effort well done!

If you are an ADP recipient, contact your eligibility worker to attain further information about your benefits and where the nearest authorized distributor is located. Hopefully this will open the door to other areas of Canada for lymphedema patients in need.

Next week we will be in Akron Ohio attending the Venous and Lymphatic Symposium Regional Conference ’99. If anyone would like information on this conference please call 1-800-398-5934. In next month’s eNews we will give you an update of that conference.

In our July eNews we announced our EdemaCalc® would soon be available on line for lymphedema patients. The response has been good and we are pleased to offer this service on line. If you haven’t had the opportunity to check out what this new service is all about, click here for more information.