림프부종의 분류와 병기설정의 현재와 역사

안소영¹^,^*

History and Current Status of Clinical Staging and Classification

So Young Ahn¹^,^*

¹충남대학교 의과대학 충남대학교병원 재활의학교실

¹Department of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

^*Address for correspondence: So Young Ahn, MD, PhD, Department of Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine, Chungnam National University Hospital, Chungnam National University College of Medicine, 282 Munhwa-ro, Jung-gu, Daejeon 35015, Republic of Korea, Tel: +82-42-338-2460, Fax: +82-42-338-2461, E-mail: hitz97@hanmail.net

ⓒ Copyright 2026 Korean Society of Lymphology and Lymphedema. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Oct 18, 2023; Accepted: May 10, 2024

Published Online: May 18, 2024

Abatract

Accurate classification and staging of a disease is crucial for understanding its current condition, including diagnosis, severity, and complications, to be explained in standardized language and the most appropriate treatment plan can be established. This review describes the traditional clinical classification and staging of lymphedema. Despite extensive international efforts to classify and stage lymphedema, there is still no single, standardized method that fully encompasses the disease's pathophysiology or offers a comprehensive view of lymphedema. Combining physical (phenotypic) findings with objective evaluation tool, disability grading, and inflammation assessment is important for forecasting the future evolution of staging.

Keywords: Lymphedema; Staging; Classification