Empower Your Patients with Personalized Survivorship Care

Lymphedema is a chronic condition caused by damage to the lymphatic system — commonly resulting from cancer surgery or radiation — that leads to abnormal fluid buildup and swelling, typically in a limb. Breast cancer survivors face a particularly elevated risk: while up to 58% of all cancer patients are at risk for limb lymphedema, that figure can exceed 80% for breast cancer patients depending on their treatment protocol. Because lymphedema can develop gradually and without obvious early symptoms, many cases go undetected until the condition has become chronic and irreversible. Early, objective monitoring is therefore a critical component of breast cancer survivorship care.

The gold standard for early lymphedema detection is bioimpedance spectroscopy (BIS), an objective, non-invasive measurement technology. The SOZO® Digital Health Platform with L-Dex® Analysis is the only FDA-cleared BIS solution for the clinical assessment of lymphedema. Rather than waiting for visible swelling or patient-reported symptoms, BIS measures fluid changes at a subclinical level — before the condition becomes apparent. This approach enables clinicians to intervene at the earliest stage, when lymphedema is reversible. Both the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology and the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) Survivorship Standard support the use of objective tools like BIS for lymphedema surveillance.

Clinical evidence strongly supports that early detection paired with timely intervention can prevent lymphedema from progressing to a lifelong condition. In the PREVENT trial — the largest randomized controlled trial for lymphedema prevention in breast cancer patients — 92% of patients whose subclinical lymphedema was caught early using BIS technology and treated did not progress to chronic lymphedema. This prospective surveillance model, in which patients are monitored from the point of diagnosis through survivorship, represents a significant shift from reactive to preventive care. The SOZO® platform enables this by tracking fluid changes in real time and alerting clinicians to trends before symptoms develop.

BMI alone is an inadequate measure of health outcomes in cancer survivors. Research shows that muscle mass and fat mass are stronger predictors of cancer recurrence, mortality, and quality of life than body weight or BMI. Many cancer survivors experience muscle loss (sarcopenia) and fat gain during and after treatment — changes that BMI would not capture. BodyComp™ Analysis, available on the SOZO® Digital Health Platform, measures lean and fat mass directly, enabling oncology care teams to personalize survivorship plans around exercise oncology, rehabilitation, functional recovery, and medical weight management. This data-driven approach supports more meaningful patient conversations and better-informed clinical decisions throughout the survivorship journey.