Rehabilitation Concepts Among Aging Survivors Living With and At Risk for Lymphedema: A Framework for Assessment, Enhancing Strengths, and Minimizing Vulnerability

The leading cause of secondary lymphedema (LE) in developed countries is cancer treatment. It is estimated that more than 11.4 million cancer survivors in the United States are at risk for developing LE. The intersect of the growing aging population and improvement in cancer detection and treatment provides focus on aging and rehabilitation outcomes in detection and management of LE. The complexity of the problem of posttreatment LE and the predicted increase in the number of older cancer survivors led to the mandate for more attention to this multidisciplinary rehabilitation issue in gero-oncology.