 (BIS) allows oncology nurses to be more proactive in managing subclinical lymphedema, according to Sheila Ridner, PhD, RN, FAAN.

Ridner, a research professor at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, was co-principal investigator in the 

 (NCT02167659), which found patients who received compression intervention after assessment with BIS were less likely to develop lymphedema compared with those who received compression intervention after assessment with tape measure. The percentage of patients who developed lymphedema in these 2 populations were 7.9% and 19.2%, respectively (

These findings suggest that the oncology care team can leverage outcomes by proactively identifying and managing this adverse event without necessarily involving lymphedema specialists, explains Ridner.

“Nurses and research assistants did the measurements in the study,” she said. “We have [shown] that the cancer treatment team can do the initial diagnosis and we can have the nurses or research aids fit the patients for the garment and run that 30-day intervention.”

“That's important because there is a shortage of trained lymphedema therapists,” Ridner explained. “Now we know that multidisciplinary breast cancer teams can do this short-term intervention [along with] surveillance; if you can get the right people to do the right pieces of patient care, then you can take some of the stress off some of the highly burdened lymphedema clinics.”

However, implementing BIS technology will start with nurse education and advocacy, she noted.

“Nurses are the advocates for patients in this world,” she concluded. “Now [we] have an evidence base that they can use to become informed advocates.”

Videos

Sheila Ridner, PhD, RN, FAAN, discusses the implications of the PREVENT study and how oncology nurses can advocate for patients with breast cancer. 

Oncology Nurses Can Help Better Prevent Chronic Lymphedema With BIS Technology 

The technology for bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) has evolved rapidly in the past couple decades, according to Sheila L. Ridner, PhD, RN, FAAN. Moreover, the current technology is both easy to use and patient friendly.

“It is as easy to use as putting someone on a scale and getting their weight,” Ridner, a research professor at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, explained in an interview with 

®,noting that the underlying technology is based on electrical current that measures the fluid between the cells. “It’s very simple. It’s very quick. It takes less than a minute to do.”

“The first patient that I ever measured loved the technology and said, ‘This makes so much more sense than being measured with a tape,’” Ridner recalled. “Because, [patients can] tell that tape measurements techniques vary from therapist to therapist or doctor to doctor or nurse to nurse. [Therefore], [BIS] standardizes the way you do the measurement, you cannot get it wrong: a nurse could weigh a patient, get their blood pressure, check their arm with BIS and take them right on to see their nurse practitioner, or their oncologist or their surgeon as part of a routine posttreatment visit. It is that easy.”

Sheila L. Ridner, PhD, RN, FAAN, provides an overview of bioimpedance spectroscopy and how the simple design allows for standardized subclinical lymphedema surveillance in breast cancer survivors.

Sheila L. Ridner, PhD, RN, FAAN

Articles

Oncology Nurses Can Help Better Prevent Chronic Lymphedema With BIS Technology

Bioimpedance Spectroscopy: How It Functions and How It Improves Subclinical Lymphedema Detection