LYMPHO NEWS

Dear friends,

This year, the ILF, in collaboration with the Welsh Framework, Lymphoedema Wales, and the International Lipoedema Association (ILA) will come together from all over the world, to share knowledge and experiences at the 11th International Lymphoedema Conference in Nottingham (13–15 June). Appropriately, the theme for this year’s ILF conference is ‘Stronger Together’, and together, we aim to achieve a greater awareness of lymphoedema alongside related disorders, to make sure it is prioritised on the healthcare agenda worldwide.

At the ILF, everything we do is to improve the lives of people with lymphoedema and we are delighted to announce our patient day on Thursday 15 June, which will be running as part of the conference to allow people with lymphoedema to learn more about their condition and to share experiences with others living with or caring for someone with lymphoedema and associated conditions.

We hope you and your patients will join us in being ‘Stronger Together’ and look forward to seeing you in Nottingham.

But, before the conference itself starts, the directors have a face-to-face working day. It is the one day we can meet up like this, as other than that our meetings are online which can be a challenge timewise — there may be 17 hours difference between the United States and Australia. We also have a second day of meetings in which we invite a representative from each of our frameworks to hear about their work and how we can support each other.

Do keep us updated with your news — it is great to hear and is important.

With best wishes from
Christine Moffatt CBE and the ILF Board of Directors

ILF 2023 Conference in Nottingham, UK

Uganda, India, Saudi Arabia and the LIMPRINT study

Christine Moffatt CBE is travelling to Uganda again this month in preparation for the Uganda participation in the LIMPRINT study. Uganda is the first low resource country to be participating in the study.

Other countries who have taken part so far have very different backgrounds and cultures. It is hoped that Kerala in India will also be involved in this study. Dr Narahari and his team at the Institute of Applied Dermatology (IAD) in Kerala are also interested in participating in the Children’s Quality of Life study and have translated the questionnaire into four Indian dialects so far.

In mentioning cultures, Christine Moffatt and Susan Norregaard also went to help run the LIMPRINT study in Saudi Arabia last month. We hope to have a report on this in the May newsletter.

4th Lymphology Conference, Wroclaw, Poland

The ILF has remained busy with a number of speakers from our frameworks speaking at the 4th Lymphology Conference, which was held in Wroclaw, Poland during March. The topics discussed at the conference included developments in the etiopathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of adult and paediatric lymphoedema and lipoedema.

Call for abstracts

The Scientific Committee of the Canadian Lymphedema Framework invites abstract submissions for presentation at the 2023 National Lymphedema Conference being held 3–4 November, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. New and first-time presenters are encouraged! Follow the link to learn more.
https://tinyurl.com/CLF23-C4A

Survey — Lymphoedema of the genital sphere

Elisa Depraeter, research associate at the Lymphology Research Unit of the Free University of Brussells, is conducting a study into the functional effects of genital sphere lymphoedema in women and is keen to get views from the following groups:

• Women who developed genital lymphoedema after cancer treatment
• Women who have had genital cancer but not developed lymphoedema
• Women who did not have cancer, but are affected by genital lymphoedema
• Healthy postmenopausal women with lymphoedema (control group).

Date for your diary

EWMA 2023
33rd conference of EWMA will take place 3–5 May in Milan, Italy. For further information, visit: https://ewma.org/ewma-conferences/2023

Industry support

The work of the ILF would not be possible without industry support. We thank the ILF Industry Partners for their continued engagement and support.

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· Reduced fees at future conferences
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· Opportunities to network with national lymphoedema frameworks
· Opportunities to influence future activities and direction.

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