what is a ball park figure for the cost of lymphodema microsurgery? I have heard that Oxford hospitals are not funding it through the N.H.S

[billanchor]

My daughter has bad swelling in her abdomen and legs due to lymphodema

[MarianneC]

Hi,

I am getting microsurgery done in November following a recent consultation. I have LD in both legs and the abdominal/genital area. The consultation was £250, further tests £350 and the operation itself is £10,000, plus £2000 hospital costs. I know this is a lot of money but I had to take early retirement from work so luckily have some funds. However even if I didn't have funds I would find the money from somewhere. This operation gives real hope of an improvement or even cure and for me to get quality of life is well worth it. My life quality is very poor due to my LD. I am not even going to apply for funding as I know it will be refused and that is so unfair.

Hope this helps. Can provide more info if needed.

[Christo in reply to MarianneC]

would certainly like to know more about this procedure. How did you find out about it? Wish you all the best for a successful outcome.

[MarianneC]

Hi Christo,

If you google Lymphoedema Supermicrosurgery you will get lots of info coming up. Also the surgeon Alex Ramsden who is doing my surgery along with Dominic Furniss have posted on this blog site. If you select the tag Supermicrosurgery from the search engine on this site it should also come up with the blog info. I will post on this site again with an update on the results of the surgery. Thanks for your good wishes.

[LVASurgeon]

Hi Christo,

We have been offering the service on the NHS in Oxford, and as you might imagine, it has been very popular. So much so that we have had to pause in order to get the service "commissioned". This will ensure that the hospital gets paid for the work it is carrying out. We are exploring all possible avenues to get the work commissioned within the NHS as soon as possible (local, regional and national). I will post here again when we have a positive outcome from the commissioners, as the data from Japan etc and our own results are extremely encouraging. Unfortunately, with NHS bureaucracy this is likely to take a year or more......

[lnedilsky]

I am in the US.. is there anyone who knows if this procedure is being done in the US?

I have lymphedema in my left arm and is getting worse as I get older.

Would love to find someone here that can offer Lymphoedema Supermicrosurgery

[Rebec in reply to lnedilsky]

I see that people on this forum don't know much about this kind of operation in the US but have you tried to approach a cancer surgeon in the States? How does the new medical insurance work now? Will such an operation be covered, if one can have one there?