(Archive photo: Chris de Waard).
The Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and the Thrombosis Foundation are starting a newly developed home rehabilitation program for pulmonary embolism patients. At the moment there is no good treatment for pulmonary embolisms, so better aftercare needs extra attention.
Every year, more than 12,000 people in the Netherlands develop a pulmonary embolism; a form of thrombosis. Half of these patients suffer from long-term physical and mental complaints. For example, patients can no longer do their work and end up in social isolation.
Home rehabilitation enables a better quality of life. “Immediately after the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, we will activate patients in their home situation to exercise and live a healthy life, so that they can get back to work faster, drop out less and feel fitter,” says internist and co-developer Erik Klok of the LUMC.
The LUMC has developed the rehabilitation program in collaboration with Amsterdam UMC, Maastricht University and ProCare. The program is designed with a bicycle ergometer, which measures the patient’s exertion. The patient, doctor and physiotherapist can see the results on a specially designed dashboard. “This makes it possible to work together in an accessible way on good rehabilitation,” writes the LUMC.
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