А.K. FEYSKHANOV¹, E.Z. FATYKHOVA², L.I. FEYSKHANOVA², A.V. MAKSIMOV^1,3

¹Republican Clinical Hospital of the MH of RT, 138 Orenburgskiy Trakt, Kazan, Russian Federation, 420064

²Kazan State Medical University, 49 Butlerov Str., Kazan, Russian Federation, 420012

³Kazan State Medical Academy, 36 Butlerov Str., Kazan, Russian Federation, 420012 

Feyskhanov A.K. ― cardio-vascular surgeon of the Vascular Surgery Department №1, tel. +7-987-296-06-42, e-mail: aygizf@rambler.ru

Fatykhova E.Z. ― student, tel. +7-927-036-44-93, e-mail: elzafatykhova@mail.ru

Feiskhanova L.I. ― Cand. Med. Sc., Associate Professor of the Department of Hospital Therapy, tel. +7-917-275-21-66, e-mail: ljuts@rambler.ru

Maksimov A.V. ― D. Med. Sc., Head of the Department of Vascular Surgery №1, Associate Professor of the Department of Cardiology, Endovascular and Cardiovascular Surgery, tel. (843) 237-32-51, e-mail: maks.av@mail.ru 

The article reveals a close relationship between lymphedema and erysipelas. These diseases have similar elements in pathogenesis, thus, they can provoke or exacerbate each other. In the Kazan Center of rehabilitation and treatment of patients with lymphedema, 83 patients with lymphedema were treated. Among them 12 men (14.5%) and 71 women (85.5%). The average age of patients was 55.96±1.8 years. The duration of the lymphedema was 6.6±0.8 years. 13 patients (15.7%) suffered from the primary lymphedema, 70 people (84.3%) ― from the secondary. Among patients with secondary lymphedema only one patient (1.4%) developed the disease as a result of the existing erysepilas of the affected limb. In 36 patients (43.4%) the erysipelas was diagnosed on the background of lymphedema, including in 21 patients (58.3%) this infectious disease occurred only once, in 15 patients (41.7%) ― from 2 to 16 times ( average 4.9±0.9). In primary lymphedema the incidence of erysipelas was 38.5%, in secondary ― 45.7%. The highest morbidity rate was in the group with the third stage of lymphedema (13 patients, 65%). Among patients with second stage of lymphedema the incidence of erysipelas was 40% (24 people). In the late period in two patients (2.4%) with the third stage of lymphedema were the episodes of erysipelas at 9 and 14 months.

Key words: erysipelas, lymphedema, lymphatic system, swelling of limbs.

REFERENCES

1. Mortimer Peter S., Stanley G. Rockson. New developments in clinical aspects of lymphatic disease. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2014, vol. 124, no. 3, pp. 915-921.
2. Vaillant L. Erysipelas and lymphedema. Phlebolymphology, 2007, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 120-124.
3. Fazylov V.Kh., Gilmullina F.S., Zagidullina A.I. Rozsa: clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic and preventive aspects. Prakticheskaya meditsina, 2004, №4 (9), S. 3-5 (in Russ.).
4. Damstra R.J., M.A.M van Steensel, Boomsma J.H.B., Nelemans P. and J.C.J.M. Veraat. Erysipelas as a sign of subclinical primary lymphoedema: a prospective quantitave scintigraphic study of 40 patients with unilateral erysipelas of the leg. British Journal of Dermatology, 2008, pp. 1210-1215.
5. Inghammar M., Rasmussen M., Linder A. Recurrent erysipelas — risk factors and clinical presentation. BMC Infections Diseases, 2014, pp. 1-6.
6. Cooper R., White R. Cutaneous infections in lymphoedema. Journal of Lymphoedema, 2009, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 44-48.
7. Feyskhanova L.I., Malov A.A., Kharisova E.Kh. Heart disease caused by chemotherapy in cancer. Zhurnal serdechnaya nedostatochnost’, 2015, vol. 16, no. 5 (92), pp. 296-302 (in Russ.).