Lymphedema Questions and Answers
By Matt Humphrey, OTR/L, CLT, CAPS The lymph system is a network of lymph vessels, tissues, and organs that carry lymph throughout the body. We have lymph nodes throughout our body with primary areas in our neck, sternum, abdomen, and groin. Anatomically, not everyone’s lymph system is the same; some people have more lymph nodes than others in certain parts of their body. About the Author Matt Humphrey is an occupational therapist who grew up in Houston, Texas. He graduated from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he and his wife of twenty-eight years, Kerry Ann, also an occupational therapist, met. He has worked in southern Utah as an occupational therapist for twenty-eight years. He has coached many youth and club sports teams. Matt loves golfing and running, even in the extreme heat of southern Utah. He and Kerry Ann recently opened their own wellness clinic, Unity Health and Wellness, in Hurricane, Utah, that offers aerial yoga.
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What is lymphedema and how does a person get it? Lymphedema is the build-up of fluid in soft body tissues when the lymph system is damaged or blocked, and lymph is unable to flow through the body the way it should. Lymphedema usually occurs in an arm or leg but can also occur in the face, neck, and trunk areas of the body when lymphatic channels are blocked or damaged. The most common causes of lymphedema include: • Cancer. If cancer cells block lymph vessels, lymphedema may result. A tumor may block lymph nodes as it grows and cause a backup of fluid in parts of the body.
• Radiation treatment for cancer. Although procedures have improved with new technology and preciseness of radiation treatments, radiation can cause scarring and inflammation of lymph nodes or lymph vessels.
• Surgery. In cancer surgery, lymph nodes are often removed to see if the disease has spread. However, new techniques and education have limited lymph node removal en masse although lymphedema can still occur. Lymphedema also can take place after undergoing other surgical procedures that compromise the lymphatic system. • Parasites. In developing countries and in the tropics, the most common cause of lymphedema is infection with threadlike worms that clog the lymph nodes. This is also called elephantiasis.
