Stop all the clots by steps

A DIT research student has developed a device to stop the blood clots thought to be caused by long-haul flights, writes Berni…

A DIT research student has developed a device to stop the blood clots thought to be caused by long-haul flights, writes Berni Dwan

Planning a pre-Christmas trip for shopping in New York or Hong Kong? Nervous about the blood clots sometimes associated with long-haul flights? A Dublin student believes she has found an answer.

Carolyn Collins, PhD researcher in the department of transport engineering in DIT Bolton Street, hopes to remove the threat of flight-related Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) with a simple step-machine that could be installed on aircraft.

She has named her invention the Tromped, and it has been proven at prototype stage to promote blood flow in the lower limbs, reducing blood stasis and the possible onset of flight-related DVT.

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Collins went to a lecture about flight-related DVT when in the final year of her BSc in transport operations and technology. "What I learnt from this talk was that once you press the balls of your feet down against the ground and raise your heels it results in an ejection volume of venous flow towards the heart, and that stasis will occur due to immobility as the blood pools in the veins, which become dilated due to prolonged rest."

Collins then saw an advertisement for a step machine. "I thought why couldn't we have a little foot exercise device on the aircraft to prevent deep vein thrombosis? So I came up with the idea of a spring-loaded foot pedal."

The Tromped prototype consists of two foot pedals which are connected by a hinge to the device's base at one end and at the upper end to a spring. The user compresses the pedal and this tenses the leg muscles to boost blood through the veins to the heart.

Three factors contribute to DVT including cramped seating on long haul flights, the compression of a vein in the knee area against the seat, and reduced partial pressure of oxygen during flight.

The possible result is a pulmonary embolism (PE). These blood clots originate in the deep veins of the legs and are a common cause of mortality, says Collins. Worse still, its diagnosis is missed in up to 71 per cent of instances. The danger is if the clot moves through the veins it can become lodged in the lungs, brain or heart and can quickly kill. "The Tromped was developed because 80 per cent of pulmonary embolisms occur without signs, with 66 per cent of deaths occurring within 30 minutes," says Collins.

"A lot of the time deep vein thrombosis doesn't show any warning symptoms, or symptoms may not occur until two to three weeks after the flight, therefore people don't always know that it could be flight related," she says.

"One of the recommendations of my research is to establish an international and national database in hospitals to record information about people presenting with Deep Vein Thrombosis to try and establish how much of it is flight related."