Complete Description and Specifications of the Circulator Boot Compression System

The Circulator Boot is a cardio-synchronous compression system for treating chronic ulcers and pain in the feet and legs.

Indicated for patients with peripheral arterial insufficiency and diabetic complications, the Circulator Boot is an end-diastolic pneumatic boot designed to help increase circulation to the extremities.  

It is also is indicated for ischemic ulcers, rest pain or claudication, threatened gangrene, insufficient blood supply to an amputation site, neuropathy, nocturnal leg cramps, necrobiosis diabeticorum, and chronic lymph edema.  It is not indicated for patients at risk for pulmonary emboli. The system includes an ECG monitor that detects the patient’s heart timing.

The Circulator Boot is a system of equipment which includes the following:

• A heart monitor to detect the QRS complex of the EKG and to appropriately time boot compression's in the end portion of the heart cycle.
• A rapid action valve assembly capable of both pressurizing and exhausting the boots within a fraction of a second.
• Rigid, adjustable long boots to enclose the leg from groin to toes.
• Disposable double-walled plastic bags to enclose the chosen portion of the leg and to contain the compressed air.
• Rigid Miniboots to enclose the foot and ankle for patients requiring distal treatment only.
• Fluted lower leg legging to extend the Miniboot treatment as high as the knee.
• Compressed air supply to power the circulator boot compression cycles.

The Circulator Boot is clinical equipment designed to compress all or portions of the leg in the end-diastolic portion of the heart cycle, in a series of treatments each commonly lasting 40 minutes.  It is shipped with a video training DVD to facilitate the orientation of new staff.

Wound Care Treatment Using the Circulator Boot

BACKGROUND: Around 10 to 20 years after the onset of diabetes, most people will begin to experience diabetic neuropathy.  It begins with intermittent pain and tingling in the extremities, especially the feet.  In later stages, the pain is more intense and constant.  Finally, the area begins to lose all sensation, increasing the risk of tissue injury.  The condition is caused by poor blood flow to the extremities. Many patients end up with toes or feet amputated because of the poor circulation.

CIRCULATOR BOOT SYSTEM:  The circulator boot system is an approved medical device in Canada. In the USA, it is the only boot approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of arterial diseases in the leg. The procedure greatly reduces the risk of limb loss, or amputation.  Doctors say that patients who lose one leg are likely to lose the other and also have a shorter life expectancy.

HOW DOES IT WORK?: First, the patient sits in a specially-made bed.  Their legs are then put into inflatable plastic bags.  Doctors encase the patient’s legs in boots made of white fiberglass. A regulator, which is attached to the heart monitor, is then attached to the top of each boot.  Once the circulator boot system is turned on, between heartbeats, air pulses through the bag, compressing the leg.  Oxygenated blood is drawn in, and venous blood is expelled.  Pressure is released just as the heart’s next systolic beat occurs.  The cycle is repeated from 40 to 100 times a minute.  If an infected wound is present, antibiotics can be injected into the foot or leg before treatment to help the medication circulate more effectively.  The procedure improves circulation by breaking down clots, re-channeling blocked vessels and forming new or small vessels to help restore blood flow.

HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO HEAL?:  The length and frequency of treatment varies for each patient.  For example, patients with a pulse rate of 80 beats per minute might receive 4800 such compression per hour.  Patients with minor problems may see improvement in a few weeks.  A severely diseased leg could take four to six months to save. At clinics that use the Circulator boot, typically nine out of ten patients are able to avoid amputation.

EQUIPMENT RENTAL

If you have had an assessment and treatments at a Circulator Boot clinic and would like to continue the treatments at home, the system is available for rent.

Circulator Boot Operational Concept - Click here for diagram

Circulator Boot Brochure - Click here for Brochure

Circulator Boot Coporation Website - www.circulatorboot.com

Circulator Boot for the Treatment of Osteomyelitis - Click here for details

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