Lymphatic Center Designated a Comprehensive Center of Excellence

The Boston Lymphatic Center, a joint program between Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston Children’s Hospital, was designated by the Lymphatic Education & Research Network (LE&RN) as a Comprehensive Center of Excellence in Lymphatic Disease. LE&RN is an internationally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to fighting lymphatic diseases and lymphedema through education, research, and advocacy.

Designation by LE&RN as a Comprehensive Center of Excellence followed a rigorous review by a team of international leaders in lymphatic care. This designation indicates that an institution provides the highest standards of multidisciplinary care for individuals with lymphatic diseases, such as lymphedema, lipedema, and lymphatic malformations, with explicit standards for five distinct categories of care.

There are five Centers of Excellence designations: designation as “comprehensive” — the highest level — signifies that a center provides and coordinates specific services on site. These services include comprehensive, multidisciplinary lymphatic disease-specific clinics; the full breadth of treatment options; genetic testing/counseling; ancillary services such as physical or occupational therapy; nutrition counseling, and more.

In addition, all Centers of Excellence provide professional and lay education, are engaged in lymphatic disease clinical research, and work with LE&RN locally and nationally in its efforts to improve the lives of those affected by lymphatic diseases and their families.

The center’s co-directors are Dhruv Singhal, MD, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, founder and Director of the BIDMC Lymphatic Center, and Arin Greene, MD, Director of the Lymphatic Program at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Singhal, one of the world’s leading experts in lymphedema prevention and treatment, is a pioneer in preventive lymphovenous bypass surgery at the time of node dissection for cancer patients at high risk of lymphedema. He also performs vascularized lymph node transfer and debulking procedures for the treatment of patients with chronic lymphedema and conducts lymphatic research.

Dr. Greene, an alumnus of the BIDMC General Surgery Residency Program, is the Vascular Anomalies and Pediatric Plastic Surgery Endowed Chair at Boston Children’s Hospital. Under the direction of Dr. Greene, the Lymphatic Program at Boston Children’s Hospital provides treatment for pediatric lymphedema and obesity-induced lymphedema, and conducts research in these areas.

Other key members of the center’s team are Brett Carroll, MD, Director of Vascular Medicine and Director of the Lymphatic Medicine Clinic at BIDMC, and Kathleen Shillue, PT, DPT, OCS, CCT, Director of Outpatient Rehabilitation Services and Director of the Lymphatic Treatment Clinic at BIDMC.

“Our designation as a Comprehensive Center of Excellence reassures patients and their families who are affected by lymphatic disease that when they come to us for evaluation and treatment they will receive the highest standard of care in a well-coordinated manner from experts who are laser-focused on their condition and dedicated to their ongoing well-being,” says Dr. Singhal.

Learn more about the Lymphatic Center.