[Lymphography in clinical variants of posttraumatic edema]

Early experience with lymphography, used in 28 patients with edema of the legs, descending from the site of injury (13) or ascending to the damaged area (15), is summarized. Purposive identification of the location of lymph reflux to abducting lymphatic vessels of the skin and subcutaneous fat helped to detect anatomic zones of lymph stasis, identify the cause and site of origin of the edema and exclude impaired lymph passage through neighbouring lymphatic vessels and collectors. Local or generalized disorders of lymph flow were shown to be at different distances from the damaged lymphatic vessels. The emergence of different clinical variants of descending and ascending edema is caused by the movement of the lymph reflux area from the original site of edema.