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Assessment of limb volume by manual and automated methods in patients with limb edema or lymphedema.

OBJECTIVE
Limb edema and lymphedema due to chronic venous insufficiency or mastectomy and radiotherapy negatively effects patient well-being, lifestyle, tissue blood flow, oxygenation, and wound healing. Assessment of the efficacy of volume reduction therapy requires adequate estimation of progressive limb-segment volume changes, which are usually done manually with a tape measure. This study investigated the possibility that an optoelectronic automated method--a potentially less time-consuming and less operator-dependent method--might provide adequate limb volume assessment.


DESIGN
A total of 184 manual and automated measurements of limb volume were made in 62 consecutive patients with limb edema of the legs (n = 142) and arms (n = 42).


SETTING
Clinical center.


RESULTS
Comparisons between automated and manual methods showed that inter-method volume estimates were highly correlated (4.14 +/- 0.54% for legs; 6.97 +/- 1.18% for arms). In patients with unilateral edema, the affected limb's percentage of edema was virtually identical when estimated by each method.


CONCLUSION
These findings show that the automated method of measuring limb volume is a useful alternative in suitable patients in clinical and research applications.