Liposuction provides relief for breast cancer patients

Tampa, Florida -- Imagine not being able to lift your arm because it's so swollen and feels so heavy, you can't extend it all the way. Up to 25 percent of breast cancer patients are at risk for arm lymphedema, a life-altering side effect that can even make your arm numb.

A new study may give breast cancer survivors a new treatment option.

"I was diagnosed January of '08, and I had an extensive number of lymph nodes removed as part of the surgery. And as a result, after the surgery, several months later, lymphedema developed," patient Cheri Wetzel said.

Wetzel survived breast cancer only to be confronted with another debilitating side effect: lymphedema.

"The whole arm was, it appeared to me to be, twice as large as the other arm ... I couldn't wear some clothes because my clothing was getting so tight, and so I ended up with a lot of tank tops and very limited motion on the arm because it was feeling so heavy to use it," Wetzel said.

Last fall, her doctor asked her to be part of a small study at Moffitt Cancer Center using liposuction to reduce the lymphedema.

Dr. Christine Laronga explains how the surgery works, "When the lymph channels are cut because of the sugery to take the lymph nodes out, those lymph channels have no place to go because they go to the lymph nodes that have now been cut. And so the fluid backs up and fluid is very protein rich, and then what it does as it leaks out of those little lymph channels into the surrounding tissue, the fat cells swell in reaction to this high protein because it pulls water into the cell. So it's not that you increase the number of your fat cells, they just get bigger and that's why the arm feels like it's full of fluid. So if you can remove the number of fat cells, you're not preventing the process because those that are left behind can still swell but there's so many less of them."

"I had eight incisions, eight spots where they went into the arm and took they essentially drained the arm of the lymphatic fluid... I went home like three hours later. I was walking my dog in the afternoon, so it was really no big deal and my arm didn't bother me," Wetzel said.

She'll still have to wear a compressive sleeve to keep the lymphedema from coming back, but otherwise her arm is back to normal.

"I can wear clothes again. I can use my arm. My arm doesn't bother me. It's just like my other arm again," Wetzel said.

"They find that their arm is much more mobile, less heavy, more comfortable for them, and their range of motion in all their joints is just tremendously better so their quality of life is just so much better for them," Dr. Laronga said.

The lipo isn't covered by insurance since it's considered cosmetic, but Dr. Laronga hopes her study will change that. For now, she'll track the six patients' progress over the next year in her trial to prove the lipo can improve their quality of life for the long term. Then, she'll apply for larger grants to enroll more women for the $12,000 to $17,000 procedure.

If you would like to make a donation to Dr. Laronga's study, specify Lipo for Lymphedema on any Moffitt donations.

To learn more about lymphedema, click on these links:

• BreastCancer.org
• Compression Sleeves