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Dutch Expertise Center for lymphovascular medicine Robert J. Damstra In 1995, in the city of Drachten’s Nij Smellinghe Hospital, an interdisciplinary working group was started, consisting of two dermatologists, a surgeon, a com- pression specialist, a physiotherapist, a skin therapist and a specialized oncology nurse. The working group was initially dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of patients with cancer-related lymphedema. Later on, patients with swelling were also referred for diagnosis and conservative or surgical treatment of primary and secondary lymphedema and for a functional programme for lipedema. Until that time, lymphedema in general and specifically post-cancer lymphedema were orphan diseases in the Netherlands. In 1998 the Stichting Lymfologie Centrum Nederland (the Dutch Lymphology Foundation Center) was established to educate and inform healthcare workers. In the year 2000, this foundation published the first Dutch book on lymphology, entitled Lymfoedeem in de praktijk (Lymphedema in daily practice). Additionally, research and the development of new concepts of treatment of lymphedema and lipedema were started. In 2003 the first Dutch guideline on lymphedema was published, while by 2006 the Dutch Lymphedema Network (NLNet) had been founded. In 2009, Robert Damstra (1959) received his PhD at the University of Maastricht for his thesis “Diagnostic and therapeutical aspects of lymphedema”. A rewritten edition was published commercially in 2010 and again in 2013.[1] In 2009, the working group was officially transformed into the Dutch Expertise Center for Lymphovascular Medicine, being one of the focus areas of the Nij Smellinghe Hospital with 13 beds and over 160 in-patients, as well as some 600 patient referrals every year. In 2013, a satellite treatment center was founded in Utrecht to perform follow-up and out-patient treatment under the aegis of the expertise center. As of 2014, the center has been officially recognized by health insurance companies as a tertiary referral center in the Netherlands. Partnerships with the universities of Groningen, Maastricht, Greifswald (Germany), Malmo (Sweden), Leuven (Belgium) and universities of applied sciences (Utrecht, Groningen, the Hague) were either initiated or extended. New treatment programmes were introduced implementing the concepts of chronic care management and a functional approach according to the International Classification of Functioning, disability and health (ICF) as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). In 2014, the second guideline on lymphedema and the first guideline on lipedema will is published in the Netherlands in collaboration with more than 17 representa- tives of scientific and patient organizations. Over the last 7 years, Damstra has been a member of many international guideline/consensus committees, such as the International Union of Phlebology (UIP), the ILF and the International Compression Club (ICC). 155 Lymphedema of the left leg and foot. BWEADVSMGFINCORR:Opmaak 1 21-07-2014 17:41 Pagina 155