Lymphedema Care at Quincy Medical Group

What is lym­phede­ma?
Lym­phede­ma is a condition/​disease defined as the abnor­mal accu­mu­la­tion of flu­id in the tis­sue caus­ing chron­ic inflam­ma­tion, hard­en­ing of the skin, and an increase in adi­pose tissue.

How does it hap­pen?
Dam­age to the lym­phat­ic sys­tem caused by surgery, radi­a­tion, or abnor­mal accu­mu­la­tion of cells in the body, infec­tion, obe­si­ty, or genetics

Where can lym­phede­ma occur in the body?
Face, neck, axil­la, arms, trunk, gen­i­tals, legs, and feet.

What hap­pens if I don’t get treatment?

• Increased risk of cellulitis/​infection.
• Loss of over­all func­tion in regards to activ­i­ties of dai­ly liv­ing (ADL) and mobility.

When should I seek help?

• As soon as possible.
• Indi­ca­tions of increased ede­ma accumulation
  • Pain, decline in mobil­i­ty and/​or ADLs, clothes fit­ting tighter, unable to get rings on fin­gers, lines in ankles from socks, feel­ings of heav­i­ness or discomfort.
• Speak to your pri­ma­ry care provider, oncol­o­gist, or sur­geon about a refer­ral to QMG’s Cer­ti­fied Lym­phede­ma Therapists.

What should I expect dur­ing treatment?

• Cer­ti­fied Lym­phede­ma Ther­a­pists (CLT) have under­gone train­ing spe­cif­ic to the treat­ment of lymphedema.
• Treat­ment includes:
  • Phys­i­cal ther­a­py ses­sions 3 days a week for 1‑hour appointments.
  • Dura­tion is based on severity
  • Com­plete Decon­ges­tive Ther­a­py (CDT): man­u­al lymph drainage (MLD), ban­dag­ing, and compression.
• Fol­low­ing treat­ment, some form of com­pres­sion must be worn. Not com­plet­ing the full treat­ment or wear­ing com­pres­sion fol­low­ing treat­ment will cause the swelling to return.
• When being fit­ted for a com­pres­sion gar­ment, patients will be mea­sured in the morn­ing as flu­id tends to accu­mu­late through­out the day.

Does insur­ance pay for this?

• It is the patient’s respon­si­bil­i­ty to con­tact his/​her insur­ance com­pa­ny regard­ing phys­i­cal ther­a­py and com­pres­sion gar­ment coverage.
• Medicare does cov­er the treat­ment of lym­phede­ma but does not cov­er the cost of com­pres­sion garments.
• Pri­vate insur­ance cov­er­age varies depend­ing on the carrier.

For more infor­ma­tion, call (217) 222‑6550, ext. 3282.