Lymphedema can be congenital, but for most of the three million sufferers in the U.S. (120 million worldwide) it is secondary to surgery, most commonly lymph node surgery to treat breast cancer in women. Currently the best treatment is message therapy to drain the fluid out of the limb, and the use of an elastic compression stocking to keep the swelling down.

"We have experimental evidence that the laser can reduce lymph fluid viscosity, allowing the liquid to more easily flow out of the edema area through lymph vessels that were undamaged during surgery, and other pathways," Dr. Zharov said of the device he patented since coming to UAMS in 2000.

In the Russian study, close to 100 percent of 128 lymphedema patients showed some decrease in swelling. The average efficiency rate for the study’s quantitative parameters was 78-percent. Dr. Zharov presented those results at the National Lymphedema Network International Conference in Chicago in August 2002.