Volume 24, Issue 104, July - August, 2020

Evaluation of magnetic resonance lymphangiography for patient's undergoing pre and post microsurgery

Abdullah Almujally, Fabrizio Calliada

University of Pavia, Radiology Department, Pavia, Italy

ABSTRACT

MR lymphangiography using dynamic contrast-enhanced images is useful in providing high quality images to diagnose many clinical conditions. However, this procedure cannot be used for traumatic patients or patients with severe side effect of using contrast media. Thus the only option available is to develop a protocol for lymphedema without contrast agents in order to reduce the contra indication of the procedure and to extract diagnostic information without contrast medium. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the role of MR-lymphographic for the assessment of lymphedema before and after lymph node self-transplantation. This study was conducted at IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo (PV), Pavia, Italy. A total of 17 patients were investigated for lymphedema evaluation due to primary or secondary lymphedema. All procedures were performed due to justified clinical conditions according to the ethical guidelines. All procedures were performed using two MRI machines: Siemens Symphony 1.5 T and Philips MRI (ingenia) 3.0 T. Early Lymphedema stages diagnosis represents great challenges. Non contrast MRL is used to diagnose accurately the lymphatic system disorder. From studies, the researchers have found non contrast MRL is as a promising methodology in the diagnosis of lymphatic system disorders with accuracy up to 90%. The study revealed that non-contrast MRL imaging technique can increase the accuracy of lymphedema diagnosis, improve disease prognostication, and provide a more robust marker of treatment response.

Keywords: Lymphedema; MRI; Magnetic Resonance Lymphangiography; Lymphatic Imaging, Noncontract MRI

Medical Science, 2020, 24(104), 2267-2272

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