Background: Most commonly, volume measurements are used to evaluate the effect of lymphedema treatment, but as the accumulation of lymph fluid can be local, this method may not always be the best. Tissue dielectric constant (TDC) can be applied to identify local lymphedema changes, but has not been used before when evaluating treatment in mild arm lymphedema. Thus, the overall aim of this study was to examine if TDC and water displacement method (WDM) can measure changes in mild breast cancer-related lymphedema during the 6-month standard treatment. More specifically, we examined changes within and between three defined groups based on lymphedema thresholds of TDC and WDM at start of treatment, as well as changes of the highest TDC ratio and site.

中文翻译：

---

组织介电常数和水置换法可检测轻度乳腺癌相关手臂淋巴水肿的变化

背景：最常见的是，体积测量用于评估淋巴水肿治疗的效果，但由于淋巴液的积聚可能是局部的，这种方法可能并不总是最好的。组织介电常数 (TDC) 可用于识别局部淋巴水肿的变化，但在评估轻度手臂淋巴水肿的治疗之前尚未使用。因此，本研究的总体目的是检查 TDC 和水置换法 (WDM) 是否可以测量 6 个月标准治疗期间轻度乳腺癌相关淋巴水肿的变化。更具体地说，我们根据治疗开始时 TDC 和 WDM 的淋巴水肿阈值以及最高 TDC 比率和部位的变化，检查了三个定义组内部和之间的变化。