Surgical treatment of limb lymphedema

Among 286 patients suffering from limb lymphedema seen in the outpatient clinic in the period 1977-1983, 13 were operated upon. The indication for operation and its type were dictated mainly by the gravity of the clinical findings and the failure to respond to conservative measures. Various conservative and surgical regimes are briefly reviewed emphasizing the way they were incorporated into this series. Six patients who underwent excisional operative procedures and five of the seven patients who underwent lymphatic venous bypass procedures benefitted from the operation and the adjuvant therapy.