Lymphovenous Bypass Surgery?
I had adjuvant AC/T chemo with a good response. But after my pathology came back from my bilateral mastectomy surgery on Feb 25th, 3/3 sentinel lymph nodes come back positive. I made the decision to decide to go back and have the Axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) to make sure there's no leftover cancer in the remaining nodes. The surgery is set for tomorrow morning at MGH.... (I know, super last minute decisions here)The plan is to have radiation after that.
Upon trying to make my decision about the ALND, I came across a procedure called lymphovenous bypass or immediate lymphatic reconstruction. Where the idea is, that after ALND a dye is injected into arm and they are able to see where lymphatic fluid is blocked so they can reroute the fluid into a close by vein. The surgery is done by a plastic surgeon to reduce the chance of getting lymphedema.
I'd like to hear people's thoughts on this procedure, especially if you personally had it done or know someone who has. I'm in the process of possibly postponing my scheduled surgery to meet with a breast surgeon at Beth Israel hospital (in MA) and the plastic surgeon that does this. His name is dr. Dhruv Singhal, and I guess he is known as a "guru" of this procedure. I believe he's one of the very few in NE that does this, he's been doing it for 5 years and has done around 200 of these.
But yeah, I'm scared lol. Afraid of making a poor choice, causing issues that I may not have even gotten... the procedure is still relatively new. So I'm not sure what I'm going to do. 😣
Comments
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Nicky - good luck with your ALND. Be positive you may not get lymphadema
If you go to the search option you'll find a number of discussions about this surgery. It was my impression it was done after a diagnosis of LE - but I could be wrong.
You can also review this thread. Lots of good LE info and also doc recommends.
https://www.stepup-speakout.org/
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