A feasibility study to investigate the effects of IPC on healing DFU
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The effect of thigh-administered Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC) Therapy on Healing Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU)
IRAS ID
278696
Contact name
Nia J Jones
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Huntleigh Healthcare LTD
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Having diabetes means you’re at much greater risk of developing foot problems. This is because raised blood glucose, also known as blood sugar, can damage the sensation in your feet. It can also affect your circulation, which can lead to you getting less blood supply to your feet. Without a good blood supply you may have problems with cuts and sores healing. You may also get cramps and pain in your legs or feet.
If you don’t get these problems treated, they could lead to foot ulcers, infections and, at worst, amputations. At the moment, we are not sure what the best treatment for healing foot ulcers is, so the purpose of this research is to see whether using the Wound Express TM for 2 hours a day in the comfort of your own home will help your ulcer heal. You will continue to attend a Podiatry Clinic for routine treatment of your ulcer, and the Wound Express TM thigh pump, will be something extra you can do yourself at home.
We would like to find 10 persons with diabetic foot ulcers, over the age of 18 years, to take part in the study. Everyone will receive information about the study and advice about what to do between your Podiatry Clinic appointments. We would like to see everyone for their routine treatment once a week, for a total of 17 weeks, as part of your normal National Health Service (NHS) care. At these appointments some photographs and measurements of your ulcers will be taken and we would also like you to complete a diary each week. The diary will let us know your experience of using the Wound Express TM thigh pump at home and whether there are any problems.
Once we have finished this small-scale study, we will work with the people who took part, members of the public, and NHS Podiatrists, to make sure that the findings are used to plan a larger, high-quality research study which will aim to help as many people living with chronic, non-healing, diabetic foot ulcers as possible.
REC name
Wales REC 7
REC reference
20/WA/0082
Date of REC Opinion
28 Feb 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion