TRANSCUTANEOUS MANUAL FRAGMENTATION OF DE EP-VEIN THROMBOSIS

To preserve the venous function after deep vein thrombosis, physical t reatment combines elastic stockings, active exercises, lower limbs ele vation, ventilatory exercises and manual lymph drainage. When this tra ditional treatment is not sufficient, we use a new technique. It aims at fragmenting thrombus by compressing it between the physiotherapist' s fingers and the patient's bone. In order to define the fragmentation sites we use the Tripler ultrasonography. This technique has been tes ted on ten patients with serious thrombosis, whom the thromboembolic r isk was first controlled. The evaluation was performed by the clinical examination, echography and occlusive impedance plethysmography rheog raphy. The improvement of the subjective and objective signs leads to use our technique. It has to be validated on a larger scale to extend its use (J Mal Vase 1995; 20 : pages 166-171).