[Possibilities of surgical therapy of lymphedema]

The surgical treatment of lymphedema, which was mainly used on limbs, was, up until the beginning of the last century marked by radical resection methods. Over the last 20 years, through the development of microsurgical techniques, lymphatics and lymph nodes are anastomosed after autologous transplantation to bypass blockages that occur after lymphonodal dissection after cancer therapy. As a further efferent surgical method, the lympho-venous anastomosis was propagated during the recent decades.In addition, other minimal invasive surgical techniques concerning dissection have been developed. The well known liposuction technique, which has been frequently and successfully used in cosmetic surgery, is capable of removing tissue changes that are caused by lymphedema with satisfying cosmetic results.Other surgical procedures are so called "additive lymphologic surgical treatments", such as dermatolipectomy and surgical resection of secondary lymphedema-lesions, like papillomatosis cutis, lymphcysts, lymphatic fistulas, which occur especially in lymphedema of the genitals.