Preoperative assessment enables the early diagnosis and successful treatment of lymphedema.

BACKGROUND The incidence of breast cancer (BC)-related lymphedema (LE) ranges from 7% to 47%. Successful management of LE relies on early diagnosis using sensitive measurement techniques. In the current study, the authors demonstrated the effectiveness of a surveillance program that included preoperative limb volume measurement and interval postoperative follow-up to detect and treat subclinical LE. METHODS LE was identified in 43 of 196 women who participated in a prospective BC morbidity trial. Limb volume was measured preoperatively and at 3-month intervals after surgery. If an increase >3% in upper limb (UL) volume developed compared with the preoperative volume, then a diagnosis of LE was made, and a compression garment intervention was prescribed for 4 weeks. Upon reduction of LE, garment wear was continued only during strenuous activity, with symptoms of heaviness, or with visible swelling. Women returned to the 3-month interval surveillance pathway. Statistical analysis was a repeated-measures analysis of variance by time and limb ( P ≤ .001) comparing the LE cohort with an age-matched control group. RESULTS The time to onset of LE averaged 6.9 months postoperatively. The mean (±standard deviation) affected limb volume increase was 83 mL (±119 mL; 6.5% ± 9.9%) at LE onset ( P = .005) compared with baseline. After the intervention, a statistically significant mean 48 mL (±103 mL; 4.1% ± 8.8%) volume decrease was realized ( P < .0001). The mean duration of the intervention was 4.4 weeks (±2.9 weeks). Volume reduction was maintained at an average follow-up of 4.8 months (±4.1 months) after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS A short trial of compression garments effectively treated subclinical LE. Cancer 2008. Published 2008 by the American Cancer Society.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60215/1/23494_ftp.pd

Design and fabrication of bimodal meso-mesoporous WO₃ thin films and their electrochromic properties

Based on a novel, facile and reliable two-step coating process, tungsten oxide films (TOFs) with bimodal mesoporous-mesoporous structure (BMM) were designed and realised in terms of a bilayered mesostructural configuration. The key step for successful fabrication of these BMM TOFs is the selective thermal sensitisation of the tungstic acid/Brij 56 derived sol-gel TOFs by different chemical modification to the inorganic tungsten oxide species. Moreover, one striking advantage of this process lies in that it also allows delicate tailoring of the resulting BMM structures by simple heat-treatment at different temperatures. According to the initial test results on the electrochromic properties, the obtained BMM TOFs demonstrate superior performance over their monomodal counterparts.</p