Compression Therapy for Acute Lower Limb Cellulitis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Initiating Early Compression Therapy in the Treatment of Lower Limb Cellulitis for Adults Admitted to the Acute Hospital to Improve Patient Outcomes – A Feasibility Study
IRAS ID
237782
Contact name
Pia Prince
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Cellulitis is a skin infection that results in oedema (additional fluid within tissues},erythema(redness}\nand variable levels of skin damage. Patients generally present with malaise,pain and if a lower limb is affectd they have difficulty mobilising and weight bearing. Patients within this organisation are often r :ferred to the tissue viability service only after significant skin damage has occurred (even though they are receiving appropriate antibiotic therapy}. At this point they will be offered an established plan of care that includes compression therapy if it can be tolerated however at present less thar:50% of those admitted are referred. Despite compression therapy being well proven in oedema’, management there is no data available to support or reject the early application in lower limb celf.ulitis. There is also a lack of information about the impact of early intervention in quality of life for patients in this specific group.\n\nThis study has been developed in order to determine the feasibility of being able to undertake a wider trial which would evaluate the outcomes of patients with acute lower limb cellulitis treated with compression therapy versus standard care. The objectives of the study would be to test the procedures and data collection tools being considered for use in a wider study. This would include\ncollectior of quality outcome questionnaire,limb circumference measurements and photography as well arecruitment of participants, the follow up processes and participant attrition. Secondary objectives would be linked to quality of life outcome measures and would determine oedema reductior:J (and its impact on quality of fife},the average number of beddays compared to a historical cohort alild to determine recurrence within the study period. A pragmatic choice of sample size has been used,based on the average number of patients treated within this acute hospital for lower leg cellulitis in the first 6 months of 2016/17. Within 3 months,at least 80 patients should be available as a pop fation from which to recruit. A sample of 40 has been chosen to allow for 50% of patients not being suitable for inclusion.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 3
REC reference
18/WS/0036
Date of REC Opinion
1 Jun 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion