Clinical assessment of the VenoTrain angioflow

by Prof. Dr. med. Markus Stücker, Managing Director of the Clinic of Dermatology, Venerology, and Allergology at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany.

“Compensated arterial disease is one of the relative contraindications of compression therapy. For patients with an ankle-brachial index greater than 0.5 and absolute arterial pressure at the ankle of 60 mmHg, compression with a contact pressure of up to 40 mmHg is not considered to be problematic (Reich-Schupke and Stücker, Moderne Kompressionstherapie, Cologne 2013). It is only at compression pressures of 41 mmHg or more in the ankle region that a drop in perfusion in the area of the big toe is seen, measured as laser Doppler flux (Mosti et al., Journal of Vascular Surgery 2012). In contrast , the ejection fraction of the venous blood increases in situations such as these as the compression pressure is increased, with the result that , firstly, the safety of compression stockings in peripheral arterial disease has been proven, and secondly, their effectiveness is also well documented.
If the transcutaneous oxygen partial pressure is measured under compression in cases of peripheral arterial disease, an increase in this parameter can be seen in compression values of up to 50 mmHg (Mosti et al., Journal of Vascular Surgery 2012), which has been verified in patients with an ankle-brachial index of 0.58 on average.
The VenoTrain angioflow compression stocking has a resting pressure of 20 mmHg in the ankle region, which is well below the potential risk threshold of 41 mmHg. Furthermore, just like the compression garments used in the above-mentioned studies, it has a low elasticity. It also has a very low pressure in the foot region of well below 10 mmHg, which is comparable to a normal textile stocking. All in all , this is a stocking that exerts a much lower compressive force than the compression garments used in previous studies on patients with peripheral arterial disease. In addition, its special characteristics (high stiffness, especially low pressure in the foot region) set it apart from the compression stockings currently in use.”

Images: Bauerfeind, Stefan Durstewitz