Lymphedema after breast cancer surgery is one of the sequelae of headache. The doctor pointed out that the symptoms of edema were mild and the upper limbs were swollen; To make matters worse, fingers can't move, hands can't be lifted, and cellulitis may occur. According to statistics, about 5 ~ 40% patients will have lymphedema 2 years after mastectomy. But now, transplanting the "lymph node flap" near the affected wrist is as effective as a pumping motor, which can effectively "pump water" to improve edema.

After breast cancer surgery, radiotherapy will inevitably destroy axillary lymph tissue and cause edema; Now it can be effectively improved by lymph node flap transplantation. (Photo/Huang Zhiwen) Zheng Minghui, deputy dean of Chang Geng Linkou and plastic surgeon, said that two cases from Guangzhou were recently admitted, both of which were long-term lymphedema after breast cancer surgery, repeatedly infected with cellulitis, and their arms became more and more swollen and fibrotic. Besides the difficulty in choosing clothes and heavy arms, daily activities are becoming more and more difficult. Among them, 1 Ms. Wu also had the idea of amputation.

Later, through the microscopic reconstruction of the lymphedema treatment team in Linkou Chang Gung Hospital, the arm was not only softened and lightened after lymph node flap transplantation, but also worried about infection and inflammation. Dr. Zheng Minghui said that lymph node flap transplantation is a precise microsurgery, which must take 6 ~ 10 hours. The lymph nodes, blood vessels and skin flaps of the neck, mandible or groin were transplanted to the wrist by microsurgery, and then the transplanted arteries and veins were sutured.

Dr. Zheng Minghui said that edema is like a flood, and transplanted lymph nodes are like a pumping motor, which can pump lymph from flooded areas into the venous system and improve edema of lower limbs, with a success rate as high as 98%. According to the long-term treatment experience of Chang Gung Microsurgical Reconstruction Team, lymph node flap transplantation can effectively improve the arm circumference of lymphedema by about 60%, and patients can return to normal life before lymphedema after operation.

The difficulty of transplantation is that the surgeon should connect the arteries and veins in the fibrotic limbs one by one. However, in the past 10 years, Chang Geng successfully transplanted 60 patients, half of whom were breast cancer patients. This technology is not only unique, but also internationally recognized, and three research papers have been published in well-known medical journals.