Edema and lower leg perfusion in patients with post-traumatic dysfunction.

Impedancegraphy and laser Doppler flowmetry were used to measure whether limb circulation changes following post-traumatic immobilization and edema. Intermittent pneumatic compression was used for edema treatment. Limb blood flow due to edema was unchanged compared to the contralateral healthy leg. Intermittent pneumatic compression reduced edema very significantly (p less than 0.001). Intermittent compression showed a slight but significant (p less than 0.01) improvement in impedancegraph blood flow after treatment. Laser Doppler skin blood flow decreased non-significantly following the compression treatment.