[Elephantiasis of the lower limb: Treatment of seven cases using the modified Charles technique]

Lymphedema is an obstructive dysfunction of the lymphatic system characterised by an inability of the lymphatic system to eliminate excess lymphatic load. It can be congenital or secondary. Untreated, it progresses in three stages, the final stage being elephantiasis. We report a short series of 7 cases of elephantiasis of the lower limb treated with the Charles technique. Our aim was to describe the results of the surgical treatment.

This was a retrospective descriptive and analytical study from January 2010 to December 2020. Patients with at least one lower limb elephantiasis of any aetiology of any age and gender who underwent excisional surgery with a complete medical record containing clinical and therapeutic data were included.

During the study period, we received 710 patients with a prevalence of elephantiasis of 1.69%. The mean age was 43.3±14.5years with a male predominance. No etiology or co-morbidity factors (diabetes, hypertension, VRS) were found. In our mini-series, the average time between the two procedures was 34.3±9.6days. The mean time to healing was 82.3±15.1days. All patients healed with two excellent results.

excisional surgery with two-stage repair combined with compression therapy gave satisfactory results.