Progress in Animal Models of Secondary Lymphedema

Abstract

Secondary lymphedema (SL) seriously affects the physiological and psychosocial status of cancer patients. The establishment of appropriate animal models for basic research is crucial to study the pathogenesis and treatment of SL. At present, there are many animal models of SL, but the lack of uniformity results in slow progress of mechanism research. Based on the research progress of SL animal models, this paper analyzes the types of experimental animals and the intervention methods of modeling in SL research. The analysis results showed that rodents (especially rats) are ideal experimental animals, and a stable and durable chronic SL model can be prepared by combining surgery with two times of preoperative and postoperative radiation, which has been confirmed in daily scientific research work.

Keywords

• secondary lymphedema
• animal model
• radiation
• surgery