الفهرس 
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Abstract
This prospective study was done on two hundred (200) patients with breast cancer who were presented to surgery & clinical oncology departments of Menoufia university hospitals who underwent breast cancer management. The study was done in the period between May 2016 and July 2018.
The aim of this work was to study upper limb lymphedema following breast cancer therapy for breast cancer patients regarding its incidence, risk factors, diagnostic techniques, risk reduction & optimal management.
According to our study, the incidence of lymphedema related to breast cancer therapy was (18.0%) after follow up for 2 years.
Lymphedema cases (36) were found to be distributed as follow: grade I = 20 cases (55.6%), grade II = 12 cases (33.3%), grade III = 4 cases (11.1 %) and there was no any grade IV case (0 %).
Old (41:50 years) patients were at the highest risk for developing lymphedema following breast cancer therapy. Also, diabetic patients are at the highest risk for developing lymphedema.
Patients who had undergone modified radical mastectomy are at higher risk for developing lymphedema.
Radiotherapy to thoracic wall and axillary lymph region increases the risk for developing of lymphedema more than triple that of radiotherapy to thoracic wall only.
Regarding TNM staging, the highest incidence of lymphedema is observed in T2 = 24 cases (66.7%) and N2 = 18 cases (50%), while patients with distant metastasis were excluded from our study.
Breast cancer patients who were diagnosed as stage IIIB are at higher risk for developing lymphedema.
Pain and restricted motion were found to be valuable predictors for development of lymphedema.