Towards an electromyography-based monitoring system for early detection of deep vein thrombosis risk: a pilot study

초록

Early detection of venous congestion (VC), including deep vein thrombosis (DVT), is crucial for preventing irreversible damage to extremities. Understanding neuromechanical changes in human extremities may help to develop monitoring approaches for postoperative venous hemodynamic alterations in patients at high risk of DVT. The goal of this preliminary study was to investigate whether postoperative neuromechanical changes can be monitored using surface electromyography (EMG) in high-risk patients after orthopedic surgery. Eight subjects who were diagnosed as being at high risk of DVT participated in our study. EMG of the medial gastrocnemius muscle was collected in a relaxed state 3-6 times on different days. In one subject, an EMG-based alarm was observed one day before imaging-confirmed DVT; however, the alarm occurred in the contralateral limb rather than in the limb in which thrombosis was confirmed. In another subject, persistent alarms were observed despite the absence of imaging-confirmed thrombosis. Significant negative correlations were observed between the alarm rate and both peak volume velocity (PVV) of venous return and elasticity in the operated leg (p < 0.05). Our findings provide preliminary evidence that EMG-based monitoring may capture postoperative neuromechanical deviations associated with venous hemodynamic changes in high-risk orthopedic patients. However, the present study does not establish diagnostic accuracy. Further prospective validation is required to determine the clinical utility of this approach for DVT risk monitoring.

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