How do you prevent and treat lymphedema following head and neck XRT?  

I have had success over many years using sodium selenite 250 mcg, 2 capsules daily, for patients with subacute supraglottic edema after head/neck radiotherapy. The majority of patients report a moderate improvement in symptoms of raspy voice and mild dysphagia. This is clearly not appropriate to m...

I've found that lymphedema of the neck can occur after radiation in many settings, but the worst seems to be oral cavity cases, where they have neck dissection followed by RT (chemoRT) and the RT fields include level I. One thing I'd recommend is to let your patients know to expect some lymphedema ...

To help prevent lymphedema of the sublingual/submandibular region for oropharynx primaries where level IA +/- level IB are not treated, or for lateralized oral cavity cases where the contralateral neck is not prophylactically treated, I contour my lip/oral cavity avoidance structure and then bring a...