Epidemiological Study of the Characteristics of Patients with Lymphedema Following Breast Cancer Referred to the Hospitals of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences

Lymphedema following breast cancer is a chronic and debilitating complication of cancer treatment and the purpose of this project is to epidemiologically evaluate the characteristics of patients with lymphedema in patients referred to the hospitals of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences following breast cancer. This is a cross-sectional descriptive study that was performed with the participation of 149 patients during the years 2018 to 2020 in the hospitals of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences and in patients with lymphedema. Information including lymphedema volume, type of treatment, body mass index and demographic information were recorded in the data collection form and finally reported. 24% of the participants were single or widowed and the rest were married. 41% of participants had a body mass index below 30 and the rest had a body mass index above 30. Depending on the type of surgery, 71% of patients underwent Modified Radical Mastectomy and the rest had Conservative surgery for their treatment. 94% of patients received chemotherapy, 83% received radiation therapy and 71% received hormone therapy. In 75% of patients, more than 10 lymphatic groups were removed during surgery, and in the rest, less than 10 lymphatic groups were removed. 36.9% of patients had a history of lymphangitis attack. The results of this study showed that high body mass index, old age, removal of lymph masses more than 10 and receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy drugs are risk factors for lymphedema.