The clinical value of lymphatic trunk lesions in primary facial lymphedema / 中华整形外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To investigate the imaging features and etiology of lymphatic trunk in primary facial lymphedema.@*Methods@#26 patients with primary facial lymphedema patients (F/M, 13/13, ages 21.8 ± 13.9 years old) were recruited from January 2015 to October 2017 in this study, with 32 sides facial lymphedema reported, including 6 right facial lymphedema, 14 left facial lymphedema, and 6 bilateral facial lymphedema. And all the patient data and imaging were retrospective analysis to summarize the MR imaging features of thoracic duct and right lymphatic duct, meanwhile compared with surgical results.@*Results@#For all 26 patients, MR imaging result in thoracic duct manifests 32 lymphatic duct, including 20 thoracic duct and 12 right lymphatic duct. The imaging features demonstrate two typical findings: dilated(13 cases) and slim(7 cases) demonstrations. While for right lymphatic duct, the MR result included three types dilated(6 cases), slim(4 cases) and no sign of manifestations(2 cases). In surgery, the thoracic duct in cervical segment demonstrated abnormal structures, including capsulated by fibrous tissues in peripheral area(30 sides), surrounded by internal jugular vein sheath(11 sides), external pressed by venae cervicalis transversa(5 sides) and lymphatic trunk dysplasia(2 sides).@*Conclusions@#MR thoracic duct and right lymphatic duct imaging can be used as an effective diagnostic imaging method for primary facial lymphedema, and the structural anomaly of the upper cervical catheter and the right lymphatic catheter may be one of the pathogenic factors of primary facial lymphedema.