Prevention and surgical treatment of lymphatic injuries in geriatric surgery

Background The rate of occurrence of post-operative complications after inguinal lymphadenectomy reported in Literature is of 6-40% for seromas or lymphocele, 2-4% for haematomas, 17-65% for wound dehiscence, 6-20% for wound infection and 22-80% for lymphoedema (1-3) The problem of prevention of lymphatic injuries in geriatric surgery is extremely important if we think about the frequency of both early complications such as lymphorrhea, lymphocele, wound dehiscence and infections and late complications such as lymphangites and lymphedema. Nowadays, it is possible to identify patients at risk and prevent these lesions or treat them at an early stage. This study helps to demonstrate how important it is to integrate diagnostic and clinical findings in order to better understand how to properly identify patients at risk of lymphatic injuries and, therefore, when it is useful and proper to use prevention.