Elastic compression stockings (ECSs) can effectively relieve symptoms of chronic venous disease (CVD), including pain, heaviness, cramps and edema. However, compression stockings that do not fit patients’ legs, calves and ankles can cause discomfort, reducing patients’ compliance in wearing the stockings. A team led by Prof. TAO Xiaoming, Director of the Research Institute for Intelligent Wearable Systems (RI-IWEAR), has developed customised graduated elastic compression stockings (c-GECSs) to address the problems found in standard graduated elastic compression stockings (s-GECSs).
In a randomised, single blind, controlled trial study, 79 patients with stage C2 or C3 CVD at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital were assigned to wear either c-GECSs (experimental group) or s-GECSs (control group). Researchers took measurements of the patients beforehand and at several timepoints within six months after they began wearing the stockings. The measured parameters included quality of life (VEINES-QOL score), compliance with wearing ECSs, interface pressure (IP) at the smallest circumference of the ankle (point B), the largest circumference of the calf (point C), and calf volume (CV).
The c-GECSs group demonstrated higher VEINES-QOL scores and longer wearing durations than the s-GECSs group. The IP of the experimental group in the sixth month was higher than that of the control group, indicating the superior ability of the former in maintaining consistent levels of compression pressure. The two types of stockings showed comparable effectiveness in reducing leg swelling. Therefore, c-GECSs are a viable compression stocking alternative for patients with CVD. The improved stockings demonstrate advantages over the standard ones in terms of comfort, compliance and maintenance of pressure. Findings have been published in Journal of Vascular Surgery (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvsv.2023.08.017).
