Minimally Invasive Lymphatic Supermicrosurgery (MILS)

Abstract

Among various surgical treatments, lymphaticovenular anastomosis (LVA), which bypasses congested lymph into venous circulation, is the least invasive surgical treatment. However, it usually entails skin incisions of around 3 cm, and operation time of around 4 hours. With multiple supermicrosurgeons under guidance of indocyanine green lymphography, LVAs can be simultaneously performed under local anesthesia within approximately 2 hours via small skin incisions with length less than 1 cm, allowing minimally invasive lymphatic supermicrosurgery (MILS). We performed MILS on 11 limbs of compression-refractory peripheral lymphedema cases. Length of skin incision for LVA ranged from 1 to 9 mm. Average operation time was 1.82 hours. Of the 11 limbs, 10 showed postoperative volume reduction. Indocyanine green lymphography clearly visualizes superficial lymph flows, which helps us to decide precise skin incision sites and find lymphatic vessels in LVA surgery, shortening skin incision length and operation time. Minimally invasive lymphatic supermicrosurgery can serve as the most reasonable treatment of compression-refractory peripheral lymphedema.