Lymphocele after prostatectomy
Posted , 5 users are following.
I had prostatectomy 4 weeks ago. All seemed to be fine except 1 week after removing catether and leaving hospital, I started having terrible thigh, hip and sciatic nerve pains each time I walked hardly 10 min. My doctor drained some fluid from the pelvic area, says it's a lymphocele and sent me to a professional physiotherapy centre to have lymph drainage massage which he believes will resolve the issue. I will start next week. The pain is so bad when it hits and I can't go back to work till this is sorted out.
I also don't know the difference between lymphocele and lymphedema. Any experince/advice?
0 likes, 14 replies
barney34567 ayman78787
Posted
Were you prescribed Amitriptyline for bladed or nerve pain after prostatectomy? For the record I was and it works for me.
If you were prescribed it you should know that in some people causes lymphocele. If that is the case speak to whoever prescribed it and if you stop taking it, WEAN off it and don't stop it abruptly.
ayman78787 barney34567
Posted
Thanks Barney. No I wasn't.
Doctor insists it's a case of lymphocele that needs professional massage to get rid of. I will start this hopefully this week and will try to have some liquid sucked up at the doctor's if possible and will see where this goes. The pain is unbearable when it hits and to add to it I just picked up a cold which doesn't help.
ayman78787 barney34567
Posted
barney34567 ayman78787
Posted
I see. Let's hope the massage gets rid of it quickly. Meanwhile you should not endure too much pain. Ask your urologist what pain killers to take until the massage proves effective.
michael66430 ayman78787
Posted
I had my prostatectomy removed on the 17 November 2016. I had no issues with walking for the first 8 weeks. I started having terrible thigh, hip and sciatic nerve pains each time I walked for more than 10 mins after 8 weeks. I then had to wait 6 weeks for a MRI and a CT scan which identified I had lymphocele in the groin area. There was a 6cm sphere of the stuff. They first used a needle to aspirate the fluid. This worked for a few days but after that I could only walk for 10 mins without being in severe pain. I was fitted with a drain that runs from my groin to a bag on the side of my leg 3 weeks ago. The good news is I can now walk for as long as I like. The bad news is I'm producing around 200Ml of fluid each day and it's not reducing. If I just sit round the house all day I produce about 140Ml but if I do my usual 1400 steps I produce up to 300Ml.
My surgeon has never had a case of lymphocele in his 12 year career. I'm seeing him again on Friday with a view to start making arrangements to have a marsupialisation. My question is has anyone out there had this procedure and how success is it. Also if it doesn’t work what can they do next?
?From what I have read lymphocele is quite common after this operation but only a small percentage of people present with problems and in most cases it sorts it's self out!
ayman78787 michael66430
Posted
My case turned out to be a massive infection following the lymphocele.
I was taken in emergency last Monday, a drainage inserted in my groin area to drain infected lymph liquid. Infection level has gone down substantially now and liquid down to less than 100 ml per day and doctor expects it to go down to less than 50 ml per day in the next couole of days, at which point he will remove the drain tube. He said that there is a 5% chance it could happen again and would have to be drained again, but that this is not a chronic problem and once the lymph tissues connect together again and heal, the body will function normally again.
The ONE thing he warned me of is the massage. He says it's the worst thing you can do for a lymphocele.
michael66430 ayman78787
Posted
I'm interested to know if the professional massage has worked?
ayman78787 michael66430
Posted
My case turned out to be a massive infection following the lymphocele.
I was taken in emergency last Monday, a drainage inserted in my groin area to drain infected lymph liquid. Infection level has gone down substantially now and liquid down to less than 100 ml per day and doctor expects it to go down to less than 50 ml per day in the next couole of days, at which point he will remove the drain tube. He said that there is a 5% chance it could happen again and would have to be drained again, but that this is not a chronic problem and once the lymph tissues connect together again and heal, the body will function normally again.
The ONE thing he warned me of is the massage. He says it's the worst thing you can do for a lymphocele. The exact opposite of what my original surgeon told me, so I not going for any massage.
barney34567 ayman78787
Posted
In this situation, I agree with you in being guided by the ER doctor, who drained the liquid and clearly made you feel better.
michael66430 ayman78787
Posted
Latest update. For some reason my fluid has dropped from around 200Ml two days ago to 100 yesterday and at the moment I have about 10Ml in the bag. I always empty it at 4pm each day. I'm not sure if it's healing or the drain pipe is becoming blocked. It's been in for 24 days now. I noticed a few days after the drain was fitted a thin cotton like string running down the full length of the drain tube. The string has gradually grown in diameter. Could this now be blocking the flow of fluid? What is the string for?
michael66430 ayman78787
Posted
Latest latest update! The fluid has now all but stopped. It;s been really painful for the last few days which has stopped me doing my usual activities. I'm having the drain removed tomorrow morning so hopfully that will be the end of the issue!!!
ayman78787
Posted
I've had the tube removed last friday. The doctor had changed its position of times and the daily drainage had dropped from > 100ml per day to 75, to 60 and then 0, at which point doc removed it, wants to see me in a week for a sonography to check no liquid accumulation is happening.
He mentioned that once it's out, it's out and very little probability of recurrence (5%), and that eventually it will go away and is a perfectly curable condition.
Important to mention, he has prescribed me a medicine 'Cyclo-Kapran' which is for healing of the lymphatic tissues after RP, which is important for the good functioning of the lymphatic system.
Fingers crossed that that's the end of it. Let you now after the sonography.
barney34567 ayman78787
Posted
Best of luck to you.
Let's hope the sonography comes back perfect!
roger09045 ayman78787
Posted