What is the Difference Between Lymphedema and Venous Insufficiency

The key difference between lymphedema and venous insufficiency is that lymphedema is a condition that causes swelling in body parts due to the build-up of lymph fluid in the body, while venous insufficiency is a condition that causes blood to pool in limb veins and leads to high pressure in those veins due to blood clots or varicose veins.

Lymphedema and venous insufficiency are two conditions that can result in edema or swelling in the human body. Lymphedema is usually due to the accumulation of lymphatic fluid, while venous insufficiency is usually due to the accumulation of blood. Moreover, lymphedema can be differentiated from edema arising from venous insufficiency, as lymphedema usually involves the swelling of the foot. However, venous insufficiency only involves the leg and ankle.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Lymphedema 
3. What is Venous Insufficiency
4. Similarities – Lymphedema and Venous Insufficiency
5. Lymphedema vs Venous Insufficiency in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Lymphedema vs Venous Insufficiency

What is Lymphedema?

Lymphedema is swelling in various areas of the body. This happens when something affects your lymphatic system or when the lymphatic system does not work well. The lymphatic system normally collects the excess fluid, proteins, and toxins from the body cells and tissues and returns them back to the bloodstream. However, when the lymphatic system doesn’t work well, fluid accumulates, and the body starts to swell.

The symptoms of this condition may include edema, an aching or heavy feeling, difficulty in movement, repeated skin infections, developing hard, tight or thickened skin, developing folds in the skin, developing warts-like growths in the skin, and fluid leaking through the skin. Moreover, this condition can be caused by breast cancer surgery, pelvic surgery, radiation therapy, trauma, infection, obesity, lack of activity, tumors, heart conditions, blood vessel issues, and kidney disease.

Lymphedema can be diagnosed through physical examination, Doppler ultrasound, MRI, and CT scan. Furthermore, treatment options for lymphedema may include antibiotics, pain medications, compression garments, physical therapy, multiplayer compression bandaging, elevation, exercises, and surgeries like lymphatic bypass procedure, lymph node transfer, and debulking.

What is Venous Insufficiency?

Venous insufficiency is a condition that causes blood to pool in the limb veins, which leads to high pressure in those veins. Venous insufficiency is normally a result of blood clots or varicose veins. Sometimes, this condition can also be a result of weakness in the leg muscles that squeeze blood forward. This condition is more common in women than in men. Moreover, it is more likely to occur in adults over the age of 50.

The symptoms of this condition may include swelling of the legs or ankles, pain that get worsen when standing and that gets better when raising the legs, leg cramps, aching, throbbing, or feeling of heaviness in the legs, weakness in the legs, thickening of the skin on the legs or ankles, changing the skin colour, especially around the ankles, varicose veins, and a feeling of tightness in the calves.

Venous insufficiency can be diagnosed through physical examination, venogram, and duplex ultrasound. Furthermore, treatment options for venous insufficiency may include prescription compression stockings, medications such as diuretics, anticoagulants, pentoxifylline (Trental), surgical repair of veins or valves,  removing the damaged vein, minimally invasive endoscopic surgery, vein bypass, and laser surgery.

What are the Similarities Between Lymphedema and Venous Insufficiency?

• Lymphedema and venous insufficiency are two conditions that can result in edema or swelling in the human body.
• Both conditions may have similar symptoms, such as edema or swelling, weakness of the body part, difficulty in movement, etc.
• They can be diagnosed through physical examination and ultrasound.
• They can be treated through physical therapy, medications, and specific surgeries.

What is the Difference Between Lymphedema and Venous Insufficiency?

Lymphedema is a condition that causes swelling in body parts due to the build-up of lymph fluid in the body, while venous insufficiency is a condition that causes blood to pool in the limb veins, leading to high pressure in those veins due to blood clots or varicose veins. Thus, this is the key difference between lymphedema and venous insufficiency. Furthermore, in the case of lymphedema, the swelling can be seen mainly in the foot, while in the case of venous insufficiency, the swelling can be seen mainly in the leg and ankle.

The below infographic presents the differences between lymphedema and venous insufficiency in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Lymphedema vs Venous Insufficiency

Lymphedema and venous insufficiency are two conditions that can result in edema or swelling in the different parts of the human body. However, they are caused due to different factors. Lymphedema and edema arising from venous insufficiency can be distinguished based on the specific areas of swelling. In lymphedema, foot swelling is commonly observed, whereas, in venous insufficiency, the swelling typically affects the leg and ankle. Moreover, lymphedema is due to the build-up of lymph fluid in the body, while venous insufficiency is due to blood pooling in the limb veins leading to high pressure in those veins as a result of blood clots or varicose veins. So, this summarizes the difference between lymphedema and venous insufficiency.

Reference:

1. “Lymphedema: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment.” Cleveland Clinic.
2. “Venous Insufficiency.” Mount Sinai Health System.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Lower limb lymphedema” By Medical doctors – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “VenousInsufficiency-left-a” By James Heilman, MD – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia