Multi-Segment Bioimpedance for Diagnosis and Follow-Up of Treatment for Lymphedema

Abstract

Background: The present study aimed to evaluate the use of multi-frequency, multi-segment bioimpedance for the diagnosis and therapeutic follow-up of clinical stages II and III lymphedema of the lower limbs. Methods and Results: A diagnostic clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of multi-frequency, multi-segment bioimpedance compared to volumetry for diagnosing and therapeutically following up clinical stages II and III lymphedema of the lower limbs. Treatment comprised the intensive Godoy Method® (eight hours per day for five days). One hundred limbs from 50 patients were evaluated, with 64 true-positive diagnoses, two false positives, three false negatives, and 31 true negatives, resulting in a sensitivity of 95.52% and specificity of 93.94%. Conclusion: Multi-frequency and multi-segment bioimpedance analysis is effective in the diagnosis and therapeutic follow-up of clinical stages II and III lymphedema of the lower limbs, achieving similar results to those obtained using water displacement volumetry.

Keywords

• lymphedema
• multi-segment bioimpedance
• diagnosis
• treatment