ImpediMed and LIVE Today Foundation Partner to Increase Awareness and Access to Care for Cancer Patients at Risk or Suffering from Lymphedema
CARLSBAD, Calif. and BRISBANE, Australia, Oct. 1, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — ImpediMed Limited (ASX: IPD), a global provider of medical technology to non-invasively measure, monitor and manage tissue composition and fluid status using bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS), today announced a collaboration with the LIVE Today Foundation.
Introduced at the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the partnership involves activities that reflect a joint mission of improving awareness as well as access to care for cancer patients in the U.S. who are at risk of developing lymphedema or are struggling with it today.
SOZO® incorporates L-Dex® technology to aid in the assessment of cancer-related lymphedema, delivering a precise snapshot of fluid status and tissue composition in less than 30 seconds.
ImpediMed will provide support to the foundation for the purchase and distribution of lymphedema compression garments to underserved patients as well as help to develop and implement educational programs for physicians and patients.
LIVE Today was founded in 2017 by Dr. Sheri Prentiss, who is recognized nationally as Dr. Sheri, a physician entrepreneur, breast cancer/lymphedema patient advocate, best-selling author and public speaker.
In 2008, Dr. Sheri was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent extensive treatment that included a partial mastectomy, lymph node dissection, 15 rounds of chemotherapy and 33 rounds of radiation. Two years later, she was unable to continue her medical practice because of debilitating lymphedema. In response and because of concerns with the then-current treatments, Dr. Sheri developed medical grade, post-surgery, designer compression garments that addressed pain and swelling as well as restored her body image confidence and self-esteem.
As she learned pressure garments were not affordable for low-income/under-resourced women, she launched LIVE Today to generate awareness of lymphedema, provide access to compression garments through partnerships with other manufacturers and to inspire other cancer survivors to live life to the fullest while managing the medical condition.
“This will be an ideal partnership for us as we fight on with our mission of making sure no cancer survivor has to be without what is needed to address lymphedema,” said Dr. Sheri. “I know the physical and emotional struggles of this condition that will affect the majority of cancer patients. ImpediMed’s support will make a difference to many, and it is clearly a reflection of our common interests.
It is also important to understand that if we can detect lymphedema early, research shows we can prevent it from becoming a serious, chronic condition. ImpediMed has the unique technology that more physicians must learn about and embrace. We can do more earlier in the journey of a cancer patient that leads to better outcomes all the way around.”
Currently, one in three cancer survivors will develop secondary lymphedema related to their cancer treatment, costing the U.S. healthcare system approximately $7 billion every year. In 2019, ImpediMed introduced a comprehensive Lymphedema Prevention Program to help educate healthcare providers and patients that with proper protocols in place, lymphedema can be detected and managed before it becomes a debilitating, chronic condition.
This program utilizes ImpediMed’s Test, Trigger, Treat® protocol for early detection and intervention of cancer-related lymphedema. Routine lymphedema testing of cancer survivors uses the company’s FDA-cleared SOZO® device with BIS (L-Dex®) technology, which measures extracellular fluid. A significant increase in a patient’s L-Dex score is a trigger to evaluate the patient and initiate intervention.
Rick Carreon, ImpediMed’s managing director and CEO, said, “Our goal is to eliminate cancer-related lymphedema and improve the quality of life of cancer patients and survivors.
Our partnership with LIVE Today is an important piece in an overall strategic approach that is rooted in awareness, education and action. The foundation has already helped many patients, and we believe that through our support and joint efforts we can help more. From our standpoint, we know that early detection is critical to preventing lymphedema from becoming a chronic condition.
SOZO with L-Dex helps healthcare professionals to identify at-risk patients early and intervene before lymphedema becomes irreversible.
Our ability to detect changes before patients have any visible swelling enables us to prevent lymphedema progression in most cases as shown in the PREVENT trial.”
ImpediMed’s PREVENT Trial demonstrated that routine monitoring with L-Dex combined with at-home intervention resulted in a 95% reduction in lymphedema progression at one year.
Today, L-Dex is the only non-invasive, reliable, validated tool to help clinicians identify subclinical lymphedema. The company’s SOZO digital health platform can measure a patient’s L-Dex score with a simple, painless 30-second scan. Monitoring L-Dex scores allows clinicians across multiple specialties to provide individualized, proactive care that can help improve patient outcomes.
For information about the LIVE Today Foundation, visit www.live-today.org.
For information about ImpediMed’s Lymphedema Prevention Program, visit www.preventlymphedema.com.
About ImpediMed
Founded and headquartered in Brisbane, Australia with U.S. offices in Carlsbad, Calif., and Bloomington, Minn., ImpediMed is the world leader in the development and distribution of medical devices employing bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS) technologies for use in the noninvasive clinical assessment and monitoring of fluid status in patients. ImpediMed has the first medical device with FDA clearance in the U.S. to aid healthcare professionals to clinically assess secondary unilateral lymphedema of the arm and leg in women and the leg in men. For additional information, visit www.impedimed.com.