Intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) combined with an electric stimulator in the prevention of venous thromboembolism in stroke patients

Objective: To explore the clinical value of intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) combined with an electric stimulator in the prevention of venous thromboembolism in stroke patients. Methods: 58 stroke patients with hemiplegia admitted to the Department of Neurology in our hospital were recruited as the study cohort and randomly placed into a control group or an observation group, with 29 patients in each group. The control group was administered routine care and IPC, and the observation group was administered electric stimulation in addition to the treatment administered to the control group. We conducted a comparison and an analysis of the occurrences of thrombosis, the blood rheology indexes, the femoral vein flow rates, and the nursing satisfaction levels in the two groups. The circumferences of the hemiplegia patients' lower extremities were measured and recorded, and the circumferences of the healthy sides and the affected limbs were compared. Results: On the 7th day after the inter-vention, the observation group had a higher incidence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) than the control group (6.90% vs. 31.03%, P<0.05). The hemorheology indexes were lower after the treatment, and the hemorheology indexes in the observation group were higher compared with the control group (P<0.05). The observation group had a higher femoral vein flow velocity than the control group (P<0.05). On the 7th and 14th days after the intervention, the peak flow and average flow velocities in the observation group exceeded those of the control group (P<0.05). The nursing satisfaction rate in the observation group was higher than it was in the control group (96.55% vs. 82.76%, P<0.05). After 7 and 14 days of treatment, smaller changes in the hemiplegic limbs of the observation group were observed, compared to the control group (P<0.05). Conclusion: IPC combined with an electrical stimulator can enhance the patients' blood hypercoagulability, effectively prevent the occurrence of DVT, and improve the nursing satisfaction levels.