Intermittent Pneumatic Compression from a Surgical Perspective

In the surgical setting, venous thrombo-embolism (VTE) occurs in 14.5% patients when prophylaxis is not employed. The incidence is reduced to 4.2% with pharmacological prophylaxis, and further to 0.6% when mechanical prophylaxis modalities are combined with pharmacological methods. VTE prophylaxis is conceptually based on gradual risk assessment. One of the most clinically relevant and useful tools for this assessment is the Caprini Score.   

This consists of various medical and surgical conditions, and is primarily designed to screen for any given patient being admitted to a hospital ward. Patients are allocated the relevant risk points for each of the existing conditions. The risk is classified per 9th edition of American College of Chest Physicians(ACCP) guidelines into four categories: very low (0 points); low (1-2 points); moderate (3-4 points) and high (≥5 points). The subsequent management following VTE risk allocation is primarily dictated per the patients bleeding risk at the time of hospitalization. The definition of bleeding risk is rather vague, and is at the discretion of the attending physician. Read more>>>>>>>>>>>>>