• Nicolas Paleiron, Armelle Mathonnet, Thierry Boulain, Audrey Imbert, Delphine Chatellier, Valérie Gissot, Gwenaelle Lhéritier, Victor Aboyans, Luc Bressollette, Aurélien Delluc, Karine Lacut, and Clinical Research in Intensive Care and Sepsis Group (CRICS Group).
• Réanimation Polyvalente, CHU Dupuytren, Limoges, France.
• Intensive Care Med. 2013 May 1;39(5):872-80.

PurposeVenous thromboembolism (VTE) is a frequent and serious problem in intensive care units (ICU). Anticoagulant treatments have demonstrated their efficacy in preventing VTE. However, when the bleeding risk is high, they are contraindicated, and mechanical devices are recommended. To date, mechanical prophylaxis has not been rigorously evaluated in any trials in ICU patients.MethodsIn this multicenter, open-label, randomized trial with blinded evaluation of endpoints, we randomly assigned 407 patients with a high risk of bleeding to receive intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) associated with graduated compression stockings (GCS) or GCS alone for 6 days during their ICU stay. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of a VTE between days 1 and 6, including nonfatal symptomatic documented VTE, or death due to a pulmonary embolism, or asymptomatic deep vein thrombosis detected by ultrasonography systematically performed on day 6.ResultsThe primary outcome was assessed in 363 patients (89.2%). By day 6, the incidence of the primary outcome was 5.6% (10 of 179 patients) in the IPC + GCS group and 9.2% (17 of 184 patients) in the GCS group (relative risk 0.60; 95% confidence interval 0.28-1.28; p = 0.19). Tolerance of IPC was poor in only 12 patients (6.0%). No intergroup difference in mortality rate was observed.ConclusionsWith the limitation of a low statistical power, our results do not support the superiority of the combination of IPC + GCS compared to GCS alone to prevent VTE in ICU patients at high risk of bleeding.

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