Device shown to reduce risk of VTE in stroke patients

A specific type of neuromuscular electrostimulation technology has been clinically proven to reduce the incidence of potentially fatal blood clots, or venous thromboembolism (VTE), in patients recovering from stroke.

A team from The Royal Stoke Hospital conducted a clinical audit of 1,000 patients admitted to the hospital’s acute stroke unit and found that increasing blood flow in patients with restricted mobility, using a NICE recommended device, known as the geko, prevented VTE incidence in those unable to be prescribed standard of care intervention.

Dr. Indira Natarajan, consultant stroke physician and clinical director neurosciences, at the Royal Stoke University Hospital said: “VTE is a very serious post-Stroke complication and I am extremely proud of the collaborative partnership to embed the geko device into the acute stroke pathway. Now in routine use at the Royal Stoke, the geko marks a significant change to our nursing practice. We use the geko device to provide a continuous anti-stasis intervention, when other modalities are contraindicated or cannot be tolerated. The outcome is a very low rate of VTE in our total patient population.”

VTE is a major risk to hospitalised patients – with estimations of nearly 40,000 deaths in England per year as a result, over 62% of which could be prevented through proper management and care – and acute stroke patients are a high at-risk population due to reduced mobility.

Almost 30% of the patients in the study were unable to be prescribed intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC), the primary NICE recommended early intervention method. It was found that the geko device was well tolerated in all 219 patients prescribed this alternative VTE prevention treatment, with no incidence of VTE 90 days post-discharge, compared with 11 incidences of VTE in those patients using IPC.

The geko device, manufactured by UK-based medical devices developer Sky Medical Technology, works by gently stimulating the common peroneal nerve in the lower leg, activating the calf and foot muscle pumps, resulting in increased blood flow in the deep veins of the calf - equal to 60% of the blood flow rate of walking, without the patient needing to move.

It is estimated that the use of the geko generates a saving of £237 per patient (based on nine days of geko treatment).

Bernard Ross, CEO of Sky said: “The commitment by the Royal Stoke clinical team to build a real-world data-set and to improve patient outcomes has accelerated the adoption of an effective VTE-prevention method in the acute stroke care pathway. With impressive clinical audit results, and NICE guidance also recommending use of the geko for VTE prevention, the Royal Stoke is helping to constructively change clinical practice in high dependency acute stroke units across the UK, Europe and the USA.

The battery powered geko is a daily disposable device that is self-adhesive.