• Citer

Évaluation lymphoscintigraphique d'éventuelles anomalies du système lymphatique au niveau des membres inférieurs de joueurs de football : à propos de six observations

par Bourgeois, Pierre ;Leduc, Albert
Référence Médecine nucléaire, 31, 1, page (10-15)
Publication Publié, 2007-01

Article révisé par les pairs

• Accès en ligne
• Détails
• Contenu
• Statistiques

Résumé :

In order to demonstrate possible abnormalities of the lymphatic system as consequence of soccer practice, lymphoscintigraphic investigations of the lower limbs have been performed (1) in five young male volunteers with at least ten years of soccer practice (kicking with one foot in the five cases; previous osteoarticular events involving the ankles in four: no clinical edema observed) and (2) in one professional female soccer player (also kicking with one foot) who presented with one bilateral distal edema of the lower limbs. After the subcutaneous injection of 99mTc-labeled HSA nanosized colloids in the first interdigital space of the feet and the limbs being at rest during 30 min, the tracer did reach normally the first inguinal nodes in only three subjects (their kicking limbs), suggesting thus one functional insufficiency of the lymphatic system at the level of nine of the twelve limbs. With exercise (tip-toeing during 5 min), one (abnormal) functional asymmetry (activity reaching the inguinal nodes greater at the level of the kicking limb than at the level of the not-kicking one) was also observed. Finally, the female player with distal limb edemas showed at the end of the investigation the lowest values (within the group) of tracer disappearance at the level of the injection sites. Morphological abnormalities on the lymphatic system of the lower limbs (as dermal backflow, lymphostasis, ...) were observed in none of the subjects at the end of the investigation, suggesting lesions at the level of the tissues injected and/or of the initial lymphatics of the feet rather than lesions at the level of the great lymphatic vessels of the limbs. To conclude and although based on a limited series of subjects, the results suggest the development of functional lymphatic abnormalities at the level of the feet in soccer players, abnormalities mostly without clinical manifestations but that can lead to clinically obvious edemas. These abnormalities would have to be confirmed on a larger series. © 2007 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.