Help Your Patients Advocate for Their Own Lymphatic Health: Preventing Cancer-Related Lymphedema
Published in
Women's Health
on October 05, 2020
If you’re a mastectomy fitter, you’ve probably been asked by one of your clients about lymphedema and when a patient should see their doctor about a swollen arm or limb. Did you know that lymphedema can be prevented or the severity lessened?
ImpediMed has recently introduced a new lymphedema diagnostic test that can help detect lymphedema even before patients feel any signs or symptoms. Healthcare providers can measure a person’s L-Dex score using the SOZO device allowing for slight deviations of your normal score to be detected. A normal L-Dex score is between -10 and +10. A score may be measured before cancer treatment begins to figure out a patient’s normal score, allowing for future follow-ups to have a baseline figure.
If the SOZO device indicates that a patient has signs of early lymphedema, compression garments can be prescribed to treat lymphedema. This new technology can detect lymphedema at a much earlier rate than normal measuring.
This testing is so new that your referral source may not even know about it yet. To find out if a cancer clinic or provider in your area is already providing the test, go to impedimed.com. For more information or materials on how to talk to providers or patients about this new diagnostic testing, go to preventlymphedema.com/essentiallywomen.
TAGS
- essentially women
- lymphedema
- women's health