Table 1.

Summary Literature Highlighting Studies Examining Patients Who Have Undergone Lymphaticovenular Anastomosis (LVA) for Treatment of Primary or Secondary Lymphedema

Study	Patients	Extremities	Disease Site	Stage	Primary versus Secondary	Lymphedema Duration (mean)	No. LVA	Mean Follow-up	Outcome Assessment Tool	Objective Result	Objective % CasesImproved	Subjective (%)
Akita et al 201723	NR	29	Lower	Stardust pattern	Secondary	12 months	4.4	12.1 months	LEL index	4% decline	NR	58.6
AlJindan et al 201924	58	58	Upper and lower	Cheng grade I–II	Primary and secondary	43 months (median)	1	16.5 months	Circumference measurement	2.2%–3.2% decline	100%	100
Chang et al 201311	89	89	Upper	MDA lympho Stage I–IV	Secondary	42 months	NR	30.4 months	Volumetry	42% decline volume differential	NR	96
Chang et al 201311	7	11	Lower	MDA lympho Stage I–IV	Secondary	79 months	NR	18.2 months	Volumetry	0%–33% decline volume differential	NR	57
Gennaro et al 201625	69	69	Upper and lower	ISL II–IV	Primary and secondary	69.6 months	5.3	“at least” 12 months	Circumference measurement	50% decline volume differential	100% had improvement	81
Hara et al 201826	109	196	Upper and lower	ISL I–III Lympho I–V	Primary and secondary	89.2 months	3.3	9.1 months	Circumference measurement	0.34%–1.83% decline	100% had improvement	NR
Huang et al 19859	91	91	Lower	NR	Secondary	135.6 months	4.5	24 months	Circumference measurement	59.2% decline volume differential	100% had improvement	NR
Koshima et al 20007	12	12	Upper	11 “severe” 1 “moderate”	Secondary	42 months	4.1	26.4 months	Circumference measurement	47.3% decline volume differential	92% had improvement	NR
Koshima et al 20037	13	17	Lower	NR	Primary and secondary	80.4 months	NR	39.6 months	Circumference measurement	55.6% decline volume differential	100% had improvement	NR
Koshima et al 200417	52	NR	Lower	Campisi Stage III, IV	Secondary (primary NR)	63.6 months	2.1	14.5 months	Circumference measurement	41.8% decline volume differential	82.5% had improvement	NR
Mihara et al 201427	95	NR	Upper and lower	ISL 0–III	Primary and secondary	NR	3 or more	27.3 months	No. cellulitis episodes	1.46 episodes/year to 0.18 episodes/year	NR	NR
Mihara et al 201612	84	162	Lower	ISL I–III Lympho I–V	Primary and secondary	NR	NR*	18.3 months	Lymphoscintigraphy, circumference measurement	58.9%–80% decline volume differential depending on stage	47.7% had improvement	61.5
Seki et al 201528	30	30	Lower	LDB stage I–IV	Secondary	41–63 months	2	12 months	LEL, lymphoscintigraphy	0.03–24.4 reduction LEL	77% had improvement	NR
Yamamoto et al 201420	48	NR	Lower	ISL I–III	Primary and secondary	66 months (median)	1.6–1.8	6 months	LEL	10.9–16.5 LEL	NR	NR

*Not reported; however, increased numbers of ISL indicates International Society of Lymphology; LDB, lymphatic dermal back flow; LEL, lower extremity lymphedema index, combination of circumference measurement and body mass index; NR, not reported.