Breast cancer related upper limb lymphedema: approach and surgical management

Lymphedema of the upper extremities in a common, chronic, progressive and debilitating disease, that affects the increasing population of cancer survivors. The gold standard is nowadays an integrated approach, including conservative and surgical treatment. Lymphatic surgery, particularly the physiologic procedures including lymphatic-venous anastomosis and vascularized lymph node transfer, should be offered to lymphedema patients as soon as possible, aimed to ameliorate the subjective symptoms and to interrupt the degeneration cascade that makes this condition progressive over time. Indications for surgery, patient selection, and diagnostic tools will be discussed.