Pharmacological Treatment of Secondary Lymphedema

Lymphedema is a chronic disease that results in swelling and decreased function due to abnormal lymphatic fluid clearance and chronic inflammation. In Western countries, lymphedema most commonly develops following an iatrogenic injury to the lymphatic system during cancer treatment. It is estimated that as many as 10 million patients suffer from lymphedema in the United States alone. Current treatments for lymphedema are palliative in nature, relying on compression garments and physical therapy to decrease interstitial fluid accumulation in the affected extremity. However, recent discoveries have increased the hopes of therapeutic interventions that may promote lymphatic regeneration and function. The purpose of this review is to summarize current experimental pharmacological strategies in the treatment of lymphedema.

• Publication year

  2022

• Venue

  Frontiers in Pharmacology

• Publication date

  2022-01-25

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3389/fphar.2022.828513PMID 35145417PMCID 8822213
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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