Reliability, concurrent validity, and clinical feasibility of measurement methods determining volume in patients with lower limb lymphedema and healthy controls.

To investigate reliability, concurrent validity, and clinical feasibility of measurements assessing volume in patients with lower limb lymphedema (LLL) and healthy controls. To investigate intra- and interrater reliability, 47 patients with LLL and 30 healthy controls were assessed three times by two assessors. To investigate between session reliability, 50 participants were reassessed two weeks later. Each assessment included measurements of the midline region (hip circumference; suprapubic volume), leg volume (perimeter every 4 cm; Perometer Measurements of the total volume of different regions showed weak to very high intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) (0.131-998). Absolute and relative volume differences had lower ICC values (0.360-0.976). A strong correlation was found between the total volumes of the same region. The Perometer The assessed total volumes might be more valuable in assessing the evolution of volume in bilateral LLL than the calculated absolute and relative differences between both limbs. The Perometer