RESUMO
PURPOSE: This study was done to evaluate the mean venous velocity (MVV) response with knee and thigh length compression stockings (CS) versus intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) devices in immobile patients with brain injuries. METHODS: We carried out a randomized controlled study. We analyzed both legs of a randomly chosen sample of 43 patients assigned to one of 4 groups (86 legs). The patients were sequentially hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) in "S hospital" from November 2005 to December 2006. The base line and augmented venous velocity was measured at the level of the common femoral vein. We applied leg compression 42 times over 7 days (for 2 hours at a time at 2 hour intervals). RESULTS: There was a statistical difference among the 4 groups. The difference for the "IPC" group was more significant than the "CS" group. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the application of IPC can be considered as an effective method to prevent deep vein thrombosis for immobile patients with brain injury.