BLS Lymphoedema Awareness Week Launches Dedicated Website, UK

Main Category: Lymphology/Lymphedema
Article Date: 29 Mar 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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This week the British Lymphology Society launched a dedicated website for its national Lymphoedema Awareness Week. The site, which forms part of the first national campaign to raise awareness of the condition, Lymphoedema, can be found at http://www.blsawarenessweek.co.uk and will carry information for patients as well as healthcare and GP practitioners.

The site will include the "5 Guide for GPs" and the "5 Guide for Patients". The first two of the Society's Guides have been drawn up in consultation with the Lymphoedema Support Network, which represents patients, and the Macmillan Cancer Support organisation. The two Guides will flag up 5 key things that GPs and patients need to know about Lymphoedema.

"With over 100,000 sufferers in the UK and Ireland it is important that we raise awareness of this condition amongst the healthcare professionals, particularly GPs, so that they can diagnose the condition quickly and help patients get access to the right treatment," explained Cheryl Pike, Chair of the BLS.

"Provision for treatment varies greatly from region to region and often Lymphoedema is poorly diagnosed. Some sufferers are told that nothing can be done to help and many doctors are sceptical about treatment for Lymphoedema as well as confusing the condition with obesity or simple skin infections."

The campaign will run from the 20th April until the 26th and the "5 Guides" will be officially launched at 5pm on Tuesday 21st April from the BLS stand at the International Lymphoedema Conference hosted by WoundsUK at Ascot Racecourse.

Notes

Lymphoedema is swelling of limbs and body due to the accumulation of lymph - a colourless fluid which forms in the body naturally. Normally it drains back into the blood through a network of vessels and lymph nodes. But if the drainage routes become blocked or damaged lymph accumulates in the tissues and swelling occurs. Lymphoedema leads to changes in the tissues which greatly increase the risk of hardening and infection.

It can be unsightly disfiguring and depressing because the changes in skin tissue which result from Lymphoedema require constant attention, yet at the same time the swelling can severely limit mobility and permanently damage the self-esteem of sufferers.

It can be primary or secondary in nature. Primary Lymphoedema develops as a result of a fault within the lymphatic system itself. It can affect men women and children of any age. Secondary Lymphoedema is the result of damage to the lymphatic pathways. This may be the result of treatment for cancer, surgery or radiotherapy, or as the result of infection, injury, burns or other trauma affecting the lymphatic system.

BLS is a small medical charity whose members are predominantly health care professionals who deal with Lymphoedema on a day to day basis. They wish to promote awareness and understanding of the condition so that resources for its treatment may be more rationally allocated; and so that treatment can be more effective and improve outcomes for patients.

Source
British Lymphology Society