Seventeen patients with lymphedema were treated with intermittent external pneumatic compression. Two patients with hemodynamically significant venous obstruction showed no response to therapy. The response of the remaining fifteen patients varied with the degree of subcutaneous tissue fibrosis. Xeroradiographic estimates of tissue compressibility provided valuable prognostic information. Intermittent external pneumatic compression is an effective nonsurgical method of treatment in patients selected by xeroradiography.