ICG Scan at The Oxford Lymphoedema Practice

I attended the Oxford Lymphoedema Practice for an initial consultation with Professor Furniss and ICG scan. From this appointment, I wished to gain knowledge about my lymphoedema, finding out where the defect is situated in my leg and learn more about where the swelling stems from. Additionally, I wanted to discuss various surgical treatments which would be suitable for my course of treatment. The appointment began by answering a short questionnaire about how lymphoedema effects me. The questions varied from how it affects me physically, emotionally and psychologically as well as questions about reactions from other people in my life and how it affects my lifestyle choices. I was then fully informed about each type of primary Lymphoedema and which surgery is suited to these specifically. We spoke about how Lymphoedema effects my career choices and the psychological effects of being in such an aesthetically demanding industry. The compassion which I received from all of the staff working at this clinic made the nerve-racking experience of visiting a new Lymphoedema centre so much easier.

Following the consultation, each of my feet where injected with a small amount of local anaesthetic before being injected with the green infra red dye. These injections were situated on the top of my feet slightly down from my big toes and were completely pain free. Once the injections had been completed, I was told to wait 30 minutes for the dye to absorb and travel up my lymph system. In this time, I could move my toes and feet freely to encourage the dye to move up my leg. For the scan, an infra red light was held around 30cm away from my leg and the live results showed up on a small black and white screen. When scanning my left leg, two clear white lines (which showed the dye in my lymph system) were followed on the screen all the way up my leg, from foot to groin. Opposing this, on the scan of my right leg, two clear lines were visible for around 3-5 inches along my foot and then suddenly disappeared. What was then seen up the rest of my leg was a starburst like effect, a galaxy like looking pattern where the dye had not obtained a capillary to absorb into. Despite not being able to see clear lines up my leg, the dye had still somehow travelled up to my groin, suggesting that some of the deeper lymphatics, too deep to see in this type of scan, were working. It was decided that before finding one suitable surgical option, I must have a Lymphoscintigraphy scan to see how well the deeper lymphatics are working. In simple terms, if the deeper lymphatics are working at an optimum level, a simpler, less invasive surgery can be done whereas if they were working at a poor level a more complex and larger surgery would be more suitable.