Introduction
fits, MPE, venous stasis, VTE, Venous stasis, venous thromboembolism
SECONDARY, VENOUS STASIS, DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS (DVT), VENOUS STASIS
Venous stasis is one of the major causes of venous thromboembolism (VTE), which often starts as a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). VTE-prevention targeting venous stasis of the calf include passive compression socks and active mechanical interventions, such as intermittent pneumatic compression and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES), of which the latter today have limited effect due to poor patient compliance (Hajibandeh et al. Previous studies have demonstrated that textile electrodes are well suited for NMES (Gniotek et al. To address the above issues, we designed a novel NMES sock with textile electrodes and tested its efficacy. We believe that such novel NMES sock in the future may have the potential to produce intensity-dependent increases in peak venous velocity (PVV) of both the popliteal and femoral veins, which have been associated with an efficient VTE-prevention (Hajibandeh et al. When using standard gel electrodes, a In this efficacy study, we hypothesized that TTE would result in no difference in effect on hemodynamics and comfort compared to MPE. Thus, the primary aim of this study was to examine whether calf-NMES, using one new TTE-setup with textile electrodes in one-size fits all sock and one established MPE-setup, could both induce significant intensity-dependent increases of PVV in the popliteal and femoral veins related to the current intensity applied. The secondary aim of this study was to explore whether TTE could produce no difference in effect on hemodynamics and comfort compared to the established MPE.