<I recommended reverse pressure softening and she found that it worked when lying flat on her back. This seems like a rather rare situation to encounter since most women with breast cancer either are not breastfeeding or are not able to breastfeed much longer after their diagnosis. I was curious if any of you have seen this in your practice or if you have more information about what might cause the milk removal difficulty - would it be edema due to inflammation of the breast,> Breast cancer is known to spread through the lymphatic vessels to lymph nodes, so that lymphatic drainage may be compromised, causing interstitial fluid to fail to drain normally, and thus form edema in affected tissues. That's one of the primary effects of RPS to "pit" edema or at least temporarily move it away from the tissues being pressed upon. If edema had been crowding outside the ducts in the nipple-areolar complex to prevent the passage of milk through the ducts, then I can see how RPS could help temporarily at least, and since it worked better lying down, I am assuming her breasts were D cup or beyond, so lying down used gravity in helping move and keep the edema away from the nipple-areolar complex temporarily. Best wishes to this mother during this difficult time. K. Jean Cotterman RNC-E, IBCLC WIC Volunteer LC Dayton OH *********************************************** Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html To reach list owners: [log in to unmask] Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask] COMMANDS: 1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail 2. To start it again: set lactnet mail 3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet 4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome