“Objectives: To study the advantages and disadvantages of using optoelectronic volumetry (OPEV) for evaluation of upper limbs in patients undergoing surgical treatment of breast cancer with lymphadenectomy. Methods: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study by evaluating patients over 6 months postoperatively through the perometer. Between August 2013 and October 2014 we evaluated 44 patients who underwent sentinel-lymph-node biopsy (SLB) or radical lymphadenectomy ( RL). Results: The time interval between surgery and mid assessment of lymphedema was 35.3 months (6-170). The median difference in volume between the limbs of the patients was 88.15 mL; 4.75% (10-1220 mL; 0.4-41.5%) with a mean of 129.5 mL. Median BMI was 25.3 (19.7-43.9) and the median age was 58 years (38-76). Each evaluation took about 3-5 minutes including installation of the appliance. Limbs with irregular shapes could be analyzed accurately. In this study no patient was excluded due to technical difficulties of assessment or limb size. OPEV therefore presents a method of good accuracy and with relevant advantages over other methods of assessing the volume of limbs in the literature. OPEV shows excellent reproducibility between and within methods, which means that the patient does not need to be evaluated by the same professional during their monitoring or therapy, being excellent for daily, weekly or monthly measurements in the evaluation of treatment or disease progression. Among the disadvantages are the high cost of the perometer and patients with orthopedic impairments who cannot keep their arm in the ideal position on the machine. Conclusions: The perometer is easy to operate, fast, convenient, and can be used regardless of the condition of the skin and the patient’s limb format. In this study the perometer proved to be a very useful and effective tool to measure volumes of limbs. Key words: Breast Cancer— Lymphadenectomy- Optoeletronic volumetry”
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