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General Overview – Historical Background

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Lymphedema

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Abstract

Historically, limb lymphedema has been treated conservatively as far back as it has been found documented on ancient sculptures and scripts. Development of surgery in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries brought with it surgical methods for controlling lymphedema by improving tissue fluid and lymph drainage (e.g., through tissue bridging flaps, implantation of drains, etc.) and removal of excess of tissues in the advanced stages, such as elephantiasis. The results of lymph drainage by surgically created flow pathways turned out to be unsatisfactory and this is no longer practiced. In the 1960s modern microsurgery took its first steps based on the development of operating microscopes, microsurgical instruments, and refined sutures.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgical Research and Transplantology, Medical Research Centre, Warsaw, Poland

    Waldemar L. Olszewski

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  1. Waldemar L. Olszewski
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. George Washington University, Washington D.C, Washington, USA

    Byung-Boong Lee

  2. School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 92037, California, USA

    John Bergan

  3. Falk Cardiovascular Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, 94305, USA

    Stanley G. Rockson

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© 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited

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Olszewski, W.L. (2011). General Overview – Historical Background. In: Lee, BB., Bergan, J., Rockson, S. (eds) Lymphedema. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-567-5_39

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-85729-567-5_39

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-85729-566-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-85729-567-5

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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