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An incurable side effect of cancer treatment is in the spotlight as researchers work toward better understanding why it happens, and who it's most likely to affect.
Lymphedema is a condition of localised swelling caused when the lymphatic system can't do its job of removing excess fluid from tissue, usually because of damaged or removed lymph nodes.
The fluid builds up, causing pain and tightness, and while it can be mitigated, there is no cure, and funding for treatment is hard to come by.
An estimated 40 percent of those who have undergone treatment for breast cancer have lymphedema in their arms as a result of removed lymph nodes near the breast, under the armpit.
But the data is patchy, at best, with no national registry or numbers of people who have the condition.
In 2023, Auckland University Bioengineering researcher Dr Hayley Reynolds secured Marsden Grant funding in an effort to better understand the condition.
Catherine Davies, who is also with the Bioengineering Institute, recently finished treatment for breast cancer and now has lymphoedema.
Dr Reynolds and Catherine join Kathryn from our Auckland studio.
