Physical therapy is part of the treatment for patients admitted to ICU. Proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) is one of the physiotherapy concepts including manual techniques and verbal stimulation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the feasibility of PNF techniques in mechanically ventilated (MV) ICU patients. Another aim is to verify whether the technique using resistance during the patient’s inhalation will have a different effect than the technique used to teaching the correct breathing patterns. Methods: Patients admitted to tertiary ICU were enrolled in this study, randomly divided into two groups, and received four 90-second manual breathing stimulations each. The following vital signs were assessed: HR, SBP, DBP, and SpO2. Results: 61 MV ICU adult patients (mean age 67.8; 25 female and 36 male) were enrolled in this study. No significant differences in HR, SBP, and DBP were observed both for two techniques measured separately and between them. Statistically significant differences were noticed analysing SpO2 in the rhythmic initiation technique (RIT) group (p-value = 0.013). Conclusions: Short-term PNF interventions did not influence clinically relevant vital parameters among MV patients and seem to be feasible in this group of ICU patients.

It is estimated that 30-50% of patients suffering from deep vein thrombosis (DVT) could be diagnosed with congenital or acquired thrombophilia. Its diagnosis, however, rarely changes the clinical management, but is associated with significant costs and negative psychological and social aspects. The aim of this study was to perform a retrospective analysis of the causes and clinical consequences of diagnostics for thrombophilia. A retrospective review of the medical records of 5600 patients was performed, 62 of whom had, at the time, been diagnosed for thrombophilia because of a thromboembolic event. A review of the current literature on the validity of diagnostic tests for hypercoagulability in certain clinical conditions was also performed. The most common reason for thrombophilia testing was episodes of lower limb DVT (56%). The most frequently diagnosed abnormalities were the heterozygous form of the V Leiden gene (18%), protein S deficiency (11%), and the anti cardiolipin antibody IgG (11%). In 45% of the patients, laboratory results did not confirm the presence of any congenital thrombophilia. After receiving the results, 11% of the respondents completed oral anticoagulation therapy after 3 months, and 28% of patients qualified for indefinite use of oral anticoagulant therapy. In most of the cases examined, the diagnosis of thrombophilia did not significantly affect the treatment. A common aberration identified in patients with a history of thromboembolic incidents was the coexistence of risk factors for atherosclerosis.

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