This joint meeting of the Australasian Lymphology Association and the International Lymphoedema Framework provided the opportunity for a rich and diverse conference program.
Highlights for me were the keynote and plenary speakers who reminded us of work done by early lymphologists, reinforced what we know about the lymphatic system and demonstrated experimental imaging that gave us a peek into the future of MLD referrals.
I really enjoyed Marlys Witte’s workshop on medical ignorance, the importance of recognising what we don’t know and asking questions.
I was able to deliver 2 papers from the PhD research.
A reliability study on the tissue tonometers which showed that all three are reliable devices to use in the Myanmar Study.
And some preliminary results of the Myanmar early detection study showing that there is a difference in the asymptomatic legs of young people in Myanmar who are infected with LF compared to uninfected controls.
This is a link to the pdf of the presentation.
PDF of the Early Detection Presentation
On the last day there was a ‘Hot Topics’ panel session which turned out to be not so ‘hot’ since everyone agreed that MLD is still an effective and necessary component of lymphoedema management. I tweeted it via @Jan-MLD
I delivered two post conference workshops on Lymph Taping
Applications for Lymphoedema
Three hours of basic taping techniques, theory on the physiological effects of the tape and correct stretch and placement for seroma and unilateral arm lymphoedema
Lymph Taping in the Tropics – Three hours of exploring the tape as an alternative to compression. Participants attempted to tape their own hands as a glove replacement.