DVT Prevention: Intermittent Pneumatic Compression Devices

What are intermittent pneumatic compression devices?

Intermittent pneumatic compression ( IPC ) devices are used to help prevent blood clots in the abstruse veins of the leg. The devices use cuffs around the leg that fill with tune and squeeze your legs. This increases blood flow through the veins of your legs and helps prevent blood clots. Veins are the blood vessels that bring oxygen-poor blood and neutralize products back to the kernel. Arteries are the blood vessels that bring oxygen-rich blood and nutrients to the body. A deep vein thrombosis ( DVT ) is a blood clot that forms in a vein deep inside the body. In most cases, this clot forms inside one of the deep veins of the second joint or lower leg. The veins in your legs have bantam valves that help keep blood moving back up toward the heart. But a DVT may damage one or more of these valves. This causes them to weaken or become leaky. When this happens, blood starts to pool in your legs. This can besides happen if you are fast for a long time period of time. normally, muscles in the leg help oneself blood move up in the veins when the muscles contract. When lineage flows identical slowly through the veins, this increases the risk that cells in the lineage will stick together and form a clot. DVT is a common discipline, particularly in people over age 65. Post-thrombotic syndrome affects a large number of people who have had DVT. It can happen in men and women of any age.

DVT is a good medical circumstance that can cause swelling, pain, and tenderness in your leg. In some cases, a deep clot in a stage vein can break dislodge and stick in a vessel in the lung. This can cause a obstruction in the vessel called a pneumonic embolism. pneumonic embolism can cause austere shortness of breath and even sudden death. While using an IPC device, your calf or solid leg is enclosed in a cuff. The cuff fills with air and squeezes the leg, a lot like a blood pressure cuff. then the cuff deflates and relaxes. The process then repeats over and over. The compaction helps move lineage through your veins towards your heart. IPC besides promotes the natural release of substances in your body that help prevent clots. Between compressions, the cuffs of the device relax, and oxygen-rich blood continues to flow in the arteries of your leg .

Why might I need to use intermittent pneumatic compression devices?

You might need to use IPC devices if you have a high hazard of getting a DVT. Anything that slows the drift of rake through your veins increases your risk of DVT. A diverseness of conditions can increase your casual of getting a DVT, such as :

• Recent surgery, which decreases your mobility and increases inflammation in the body, which can lead to clotting
• Medical conditions that limit your mobility, such as an injury or stroke
• Long periods of travel, which limit your mobility
• Injury to a deep vein
• Inherited blood disorders that increase clotting
• Pregnancy
• Cancer treatment
• Smoking
• Obesity
• Older age

IPC is one means to help prevent DVT. A blood-thinning medicate such as warfarin is besides used to treat people who are at high risk for DVT. These medicines may work better than compression devices in preventing DVT. But they have other risks. If you have a high risk of excess bleeding from a blood thin, your healthcare supplier may be more likely to advise IPC alternatively. In some cases, your supplier might advise both lineage thinners and IPC. IPC is used most often for people who have just had surgery. It may besides be used after a solidus or to help treat lymphedema .

What are the risks of using intermittent pneumatic compression devices?

All procedures have risks. The risks of this operation include :

• Discomfort, warmth, or sweating beneath the cuff
• Skin breakdown
• Nerve damage (rare)
• Pressure injury (rare)

careful care to skin caution can help prevent these complications. It ’ sulfur besides crucial that your manacle size is correct. Some people with certain health conditions should not use IPC devices. For case, people with leg ulcers, burns, or peripheral vascular disease have a higher gamble for problems. Older adults may be more at gamble for skin dislocation. Talk with your supplier about the risks that most apply to you and any concerns you may have.

How do I get ready for using intermittent pneumatic compression devices?

A healthcare provider may measure your leg, to make sure you get the right size cuff. If you are to use the device at home, you will besides be instructed how to correctly put on the cuff. Be sure to ask any questions you have about the device or why it is being used .

What happens during use of intermittent pneumatic compression devices?

In most cases, an IPC is used in the hospital. Or you may be instructed how to use it at home. There are many types of IPC devices. Yours might cover your calf, or it might go around your wholly leg. Some inflate all over the branch with the lapp coerce. Others may first apply coerce to the lower and then the upper part of the leg. Some inflate quickly, and others inflate lento. A healthcare provider will show you how to put on your IPC manacle. They often use Velcro straps to close. The manacle can be put on over or under your clothes, whichever is more comfortable. When fastened around your leg, the manacle should feel snug, but it shouldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate pain. You should be able to place a finger between the cuff and your leg. future, you attach the manacle to the compression car. This machine will cycle between inflating and deflating the cuff. This may feel a little foreign at first. Let your healthcare provider know if it is besides uncomfortable. Changing a cuff to stop discomfort can help prevent complications. You can remove your IPC cuff when you need to shower. Check your skin when the device is off and alert your provider if there are any areas of softheartedness, swelling, warmth, inflammation, or skin breakdown. Make certain to put it back on american samoa soon as possible. The more you use it, the more you will lower your risk of DVT and pneumonic embolism. Your healthcare team may give you other instructions about what to do with your IPC device .

What happens after use of intermittent pneumatic compression devices?

Your healthcare supplier will tell you when you can stop using the device. This will be at the point your gamble of DVT goes down. If you have just had operation, try to get up and move equally soon as potential. With increase mobility, your risk of DVT will go down.

Your supplier may give you other instructions about ways to prevent DVT. These may include drinking plenty of water and getting physical activity. Follow all of your healthcare supplier ’ mho instructions. Call your healthcare supplier right away if you have any of the following :

• Swelling in your leg
• A warm area on your leg
• Pain in your leg or on the skin under your cuff
• A sore on the skin under your cuff

Next steps

Before you agree to the screen or the procedure make sure you know :

• The name of the test or procedure
• The reason you are having the test or procedure
• What results to expect and what they mean
• The risks and benefits of the test or procedure
• What the possible side effects or complications are
• When and where you are to have the test or procedure
• Who will do the test or procedure and what that person’s qualifications are
• What would happen if you did not have the test or procedure
• Any alternative tests or procedures to think about
• When and how will you get the results
• Who to call after the test or procedure if you have questions or problems
• How much will you have to pay for the test or procedure

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