Thigh-high socks 'best in hospital fight against DVT'

TREATING hospital patients with thigh-high surgical stockings rather than knee-high socks can reduce life-threatening clots, a study by academics at a Scottish university has found.

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh found knee-high stockings, similar to flight socks, do little to protect stroke patients against deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a life-threatening form of blood clot that can travel up to the heart and lungs.

Last night Martin Dennis, professor of stroke medicine at the university, called on long stockings to be used unless "reliable evidence" emerged that short stockings do actually reduce the risk of DVT.

The Clots (Clots in Legs Or Stockings after Stroke) research found that the clot rate in stroke patients was higher among those fitted with the shorter rather than longer stockings.

The study, which was the largest every carried out testing stockings, involved more than 3,000 patients recovering from strokes from 112 hospitals in nine countries.

It found that stroke patients fitted with below-the-knee stockings were 30 per cent more likely to develop DVT than patients fitted with thigh-length stockings.

Researchers suggested that this could be because the most serious type of blood clots tend to be in the thigh.

Prof Dennis said: "Although we have shown in previous work that thigh-length stockings are not very effective in reducing the risk of DVT after a stroke, we believe that the results of this trial may have important implications for the millions of patients undergoing surgery each year.

"Millions of patients worldwide are fitted with stockings. Unless reliable evidence emerges that short stockings do actually reduce the risk of DVT, long stockings should always be used in preference."

Last year the majority of hospitals in Scotland treating stroke patients stopped using stockings of any length on stroke patients, while in England and Wales the stockings have been scrapped for those patients.

However, stockings are also widely used to prevent clots in patients who undergo surgery. Clinicians mostly use short stockings which are cheaper and easier to fit than thigh-length stockings. Around three-quarters of the stockings used by the NHS in Scotland are short.

David Clark, chief executive of Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland, said: "More than 150,000 people a year have a stroke in the UK and it is vital they receive the best possible treatment. This important research, which we seed-funded, shows conclusively that short compression stockings do not benefit stroke patients.

"We can now focus our efforts and research funding on finding a treatment which will reduce the risk of clots."

The university team is now working on a three-year project testing another type of device which actively massages the legs to keep the blood moving which they hope will prevent clots in stroke patients.Margaret Watt, chairwoman of Scotland Patients Association, said: "If there is research proving conclusively that long stockings are better for patients than short ones then that is what the health boards should be purchasing with money from the Scottish Government.

"If health boards say they can't afford this then my advise is to sack some of the highly-paid managers."