Manual lymphatic drainage with or without fluoroscopy guidance did not substantially improve the effect of decongestive lymphatic therapy in people with breast cancer-related lymphoedema (EFforT-BCRL trial): a multicentre randomised trial.

Questions: When added to decongestive lymphatic therapy (DLT), what is the effect of fluoroscopy-guided manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) versus traditional MLD or placebo MLD for the treatment of breast cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL)?

Design: Multicentre, three-arm, randomised controlled trial with concealed allocation, intention-to-treat analysis and blinding of assessors and participants.

Participants: At five hospitals in Belgium, 194 participants with unilateral chronic BCRL were recruited.

Intervention: All participants received standard DLT (education, skin care, compression therapy and exercises).

Breast reconstruction after nipple-sparing mastectomy in the large and/or ptotic breast: A systematic review of indications, techniques, and outcomes.

Background: Surgeons remain reluctant to perform nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) in large breasts due to a higher risk of necrosis. We performed a systematic review of the literature to evaluate indications, techniques, and outcomes in immediate or delayed breast reconstructions in large and/or ptotic breasts.

Methods: The following search terms were used for both titles and key words: [NSM AND ("breast ptosis" OR "ptotic breast" OR "large breast" OR "breast hypertrophy" OR "gigantomastia")].

What is the best method to determine excessive arm volume in patients with breast cancer-related lymphoedema in clinical practice? Reliability, time efficiency and clinical feasibility of five different methods.

Objective: To investigate the reliability, time efficiency and clinical feasibility of five commonly used methods for assessing excessive arm volume in patients with breast cancer-related lymphoedema (BCRL).

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium.

Use of cervicovaginal fluid for the identification of biomarkers for pathologies of the female genital tract.

Cervicovaginal fluid has an important function in the homeostasis and immunity of the lower female genital tract. Analysis of the cervicovaginal fluid proteome may therefore yield important information about the pathogenesis of numerous gynecological pathologies. Additionally, cervicovaginal fluid has great potential as a source of biomarkers for these conditions.