Which stroke patients gain most from intermittent pneumatic compression: further analyses of the CLOTS 3 trial

ConclusionsIPC appears to reduce the risk of DVT and probably improves survival in all immobile stroke patients, other than the fifth with the best prognosis. It therefore seems reasonable to recommend that IPC should be considered in all immobile stroke patients, but that the final decision should be based on a judgment about the individual's prognosis. In some, their prognosis for survival with an acceptable quality of life will be so poor that use of IPC might be considered futile, while at the other end of the spectrum, patients' risk of DVT, and of dying from VTE, may not be high enough to justify the modest cost and inconvenience of IPC use.

Source: International Journal of Stroke - August 26, 2015 Category: Neurology Authors: Martin Dennis, Catriona Graham, Joel Smith, John Forbes, Peter Sandercock, Tags: Research Source Type: research