TRANSCUTANEOUS OXYGEN TENSION IN ARMS OF WOMEN WITH UNILATERAL POSTMASTECTOMY LYMPHEDEMA

Abstract

Previous reports suggest that skin blood flow is reduced in arms of women withlymphedema due to breast cancer treatment. Since tissue oxygenation depends on blood2flow, we sought to determine if transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcPO ) is also reduced and2if so, if therapy that reduces edema has a beneficial effect. TcPO was measured in fibroticareas of affected arms and in corresponding sites on non-affected arms of 15 women withunilateral arm lymphedema before and after CDP therapy sequences. Fibrosis wasassessed by indentation recovery times (IRT) after applying an indenter-like device totissue. Volumes and edema percentages were determined from circumferences usingautomated software calculations. Treatment significantly (p< 0.01) reduced arm edemafrom 28.6 ± 22.9% to 18.1 ± 17.7% (mean ± SD) and fibrotic segment edema from 42.6 ±30.1% to 25.0 ± 20.4%, and softened fibrotic tissue judged by reductions in IRT (88.7 ±60.7 s 2ec vs. 23.1 ± 38.8 sec, p<0.001). TcPO did not differ between arms initially and didnot change with treatment, being 60.1 ± 8.8 mmHg at the start and 61.8 ± 9.2 mmHg at the2end of treatment. Thus, despite significant amounts of initial edema, TcPO was not initiallyless in affected arms nor was it changed by therapy that improved both edema and fibrosis.