Intermittent pneumatic compression is effective in reducing venous thromboembolism risk in hospitalised patients

Commentary on: Ho KM, Tan JA. Stratified meta-analysis of intermittent pneumatic compression of the lower limbs to prevent venous thromboembolism in hospitalized patients. Circulation 2013;128:1003–20. Context The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) in 1–2 patients/1000/year. A total of 60–100 000 patients in the USA die of DVT or PE annually, with 10–30% expiring within 1 month of diagnosis. Recurrence rates of DVT/PE are as high as 33% within 10 years.1 Increased incidence of DVT and PE has been reported among hospitalised and critically ill patients. DVT risk in this subset can be as high as 81% without thromboprophylaxis and 44% with thromboprophylaxis, while 12% progress to PE in spite of thromboprophylaxis treatment.2 While thromboprophylaxis is considered the standard of care in these patients, anticoagulant use has been associated with increased bleeding in patients with...
Source: Evidence-Based Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: EBM Prognosis, Medical education, Clinical trials (epidemiology), Epidemiologic studies, Drugs: cardiovascular system, Stroke, Venous thromboembolism, Pulmonary embolism, Medical humanities Prevention Source Type: research