Quality of Life in Lymphedema Patients Treated by Microsurgical Lymphatic Vessel Transplantation—A Long-Term Follow-Up

Lymphedema is a chronic condition characterized by the accumulation of lymph fluid in the upper or lower extremities, leading to swelling, discomfort, and disability in everyday life. While various treatment modalities exist, microsurgical lymphatic vessel transplantation (LVT) has emerged as a promising option. However, there is little to no long-term follow-up data regarding patients' improvement in quality of life for this surgical technique. The present study conducts an investigation of the long-term health-related quality of life (HRQoL) over more than 20 years in patients with lymphedema treated with LVT and accomplishes this by utilizing an adapted SF-12 survey.