St. Catherine Hospital now offers an innovative program shown to prevent chronic lymphedema in 92% of cancer survivors through three years.
It is estimated that 1 in 3 at-risk cancer patients will develop lymphedema. Cancer survivors were not previously routinely monitored. Now SOZO®, a new digital health platform from Impedimed, aids in the early detection of lymphedema as a point-of-care assessment tool to guide clinical decision-making and maximize patient health.
Offered through Therapy Services at St. Catherine Hospital, this lymphedema detection technology is for at-risk cancer patients, including patients with breast cancer, melanoma and pelvic-area cancers. SOZO is an added tool used in lymphedema management, part of the multidisciplinary Oncology Rehabilitation program offered by Community Healthcare System.
“Community Healthcare System continually strives to provide the best possible care to cancer patients,” said Sylvia Gould, DPT, director of Therapy Services at St. Catherine Hospital. “For us, this means delivering excellent care to our patients both during treatment and after. Cancer survivorship is growing rapidly as a result of improved treatments. St. Catherine Hospital is proud to be the first in Northwest Indiana to offer this service to our patients and be able to prevent lymphedema versus treating it after onset.”
Lymphedema management is available to patients throughout Community Healthcare System, a leader of comprehensive cancer care in Northwest Indiana. In addition to St. Catherine Hospital, the hospitals of
Community Healthcare System include Community Hospital in Munster, St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart and Community Stroke & Rehabilitation Center in Crown Point.
A leading post-treatment complication for many cancer patients, lymphedema is estimated to cost a collective $7 billion annually. There are 1.9 million newly diagnosed cancer patients every year in the U.S., and 58% are at risk of developing limb lymphedema.
Patients who undergo surgical, radiation or certain chemotherapy treatments for breast, melanoma or pelvic-area cancers may have damage to the lymphatic drainage system in one or more limbs. Lymphedema is characterized by buildup of lymphatic fluid that causes painful and sometimes debilitating tightness and swelling in an affected limb.
This new lymphedema prevention program uses the latest detection technology called L-Dex – a measurement of fluid buildup in an at-risk limb compared to a healthy limb. It is measured on the SOZO device, which uses a sophisticated technology called bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS). The SOZO test is non-invasive, takes less than 30 seconds to complete and provides results immediately after the test.
At-risk patients receive a baseline measurement and then are measured regularly during and after cancer treatment. An L-Dex increase of 6.5 or more from baseline is an indication that lymphedema is developing and intervention is needed.
Early detection using L-Dex, combined with intervention, is able to stop 92% of patients from progressing to chronic lymphedema through three years, according to recently published data from the largest randomized trial to assess lymphedema prevention, the PREVENT trial.
