Table 1 Summary of the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the planned systematic review and network meta-analysis

1. Population

Patients with lymphedema on the extremities without exclusion of demographic factors

Intraperitoneal lymphatic diseases or only genital or head and neck lymphedema

2. Intervention and comparators

Microsurgery (supermicrosurgery) of all kinds and techniques aiming the re-functionalization of the lymphatic system

Microsurgical treatments of complications of lymphedema

or

Microsurgical interventions of tissue-engineered constructs and implants

Cohorts or studies with ablative operative treatments

3. Study design

Original studies with no restrictions in language, years, or geography.

Preclinic studies, case reports, consensus papers, editorials, reviews, and meta-analysis

Original publications of the same researcher’s group with overlapping time frame and no evidence that the cohorts described are different

Original reports on preprinted servers