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Evidence summaries

Intermittent Pneumatic Compression for Treating Venous Leg Ulcers

Intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) in addition to compression bandages may improve venous leg ulcer healing compared with continuous compression alone. Level of evidence: "C"

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 9 studies with a total of 489 subjects. In one study more ulcers healed with IPC than with dressings (62% vs 28%; RR 2.27, 95% CI 1.30 to 3.97; n=80). Two studies (n=86) found no difference between IPC and continuous compression (stockings or bandages).

5 studies compared IPC plus continuous compression against continuous compression alone. Two of these studies found increased ulcer healing with IPC plus compression than with compression alone (n=97). The remaining 3 studies found no evidence of a benefit for IPC plus compression compared with compression alone (n=122). Excluding 2 studies (due to statistical heterogeneity) and pooling (fixed effect) the remaining 3 studies showed a statistically significant difference in the number of patients healed between IPC plus continuous compression and continuous compression alone (RR 1.31, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.63; 3 studies, n=127). Meta-analysis of the 2 studies reporting pain scores and comparing IPC plus continuous compression to continuous compression alone showed a small but statistically significant difference in the average pain score, lower pain being associated with IPC (-1.03, 95% CI -1.56 to -0.49; 2 studies, n=105).

One study compared different ways of delivering IPC and found that rapid IPC healed more ulcers than slow IPC (86% vs 61%; log rank p=0.003; n=104).

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by study quality (lack of/unclear allocation concealment and blinding), and by inconsistency (variability in results across studies).

References

  • Nelson EA, Hillman A, Thomas K. Intermittent pneumatic compression for treating venous leg ulcers. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2014;(5):CD001899. [PubMed]

Primary/Secondary Keywords