The higher risk with shorter time since surgery hints that the lymphatics in the area may undergo regeneration over time, she speculated. "This was identified in the murine tail [model of lymphedema]; however, we didn’t know whether or not this phenomenon or similar exists in the head and neck cancer population."
None of the demographic factors or health behaviors assessed were found to be risk factors for the development of lymphedema. But the lack of association between smoking and alcohol consumption and lymphedema may have been related to the fact that patients were asked whether they smoked or drank but not the intensity, or to the cross-sectional nature of the study, Dr. Deng noted. "In the future, longitudinal study is needed to examine whether or not these are risk factors," she said.
Dr. Deng reported that she had no conflicts of interest related to the study. Reed Medical Education and this news organization are owned by Reed Elsevier.