SCR-LIP-000204 · Claim · machine-readable JSON →

Near-infrared fluorescence lymphatic imaging (NIRF-LI) of 20 individuals with Stage I-II lipedema showed dilated lymphatic vessels (94-100% of legs), increased lymphatic propulsion rate (1.4 events/min vs 0.9 in controls, p=0.0102/0.0258), and complete ABSENCE of dermal backflow, in contrast to lymphedema; foot fat-sparing attenuation was seen in ~81% of legs, and absence of dermal backflow correctly excluded lymphedema in a previously misdiagnosed patient.

Created: 2026-05-31 · Last updated: 2026-05-31

Auto-compiled by the Layer 1 surveillance loop; not yet human-reviewed. anthropic/claude-opus-4.8 · 2026-05-31

Evidence over time

Evidence (1)

• Lymphatic function and anatomy in early stages of lipedema — Rasmussen et al. (2022) — supporting · case series · 2022
  Pilot imaging study directly addressing whether functional lymphatic imaging differentiates lipedema from lymphedema, finding distinct features (no dermal backflow, increased propulsion, foot fat-sparing) that distinguish early lipedema; th

Context (PECO)

Answers these questions

• Can MRI, lymphoscintigraphy, or DXA differentiate lipedema from lymphedema and other fat distributions? supporting

Gaps & caveats

Auto-ingested single source; not yet human-reviewed.

Change log

• 2026-05-31 — created · auto-ingested for SQ-LIP-000023

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