La compression médicale en pathologie vasculaire : son mode d'action est-il si clair ?

Medical compression dates back to centuries and is still a matter of many questions. A major one is "how this treatment works", which remains unclear. Numerous are physiological changes under compression at various levels of macro- and microcirculations. Pressure exerted by medical devices is variable from patient to patient and consequently dose-effect link is hard to interpret. Nonetheless, three major effects of compression therapy can be highlighted: the calf muscle-pump increase, the cutaneous fluid drainage and the decrease of transmural pressure in vein walls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]