Traumatic injuries of the popliteal and tibial arteries: limb ischemia and problems of surgical management.

This paper analyzes the results of examination of 106 patients with traumatic injuries of the popliteal (n=36) and leg arteries (n=70) including gunshot (n=48), punctured and incized (n=32), contused-crushed (n=17) wounds and blunt (n=9) traumas. Sixty-two patients were admitted within 8 hours of injury and 20 within 8 to 24 hours, 24 patients within 1 to 15 days. Sixty-five patients had been rendered first aid at other medical institutions. It is to be noted that the prehospital diagnostic and tactic errors had been made in 67.7% of cases. In the patient group with injuries of the leg arteries, the severity of ischemia correlated with the number of the injured arteries and in the group of patients with popliteal artery injuries, there was a relationship between the severity of ischemia and the character of injury. In injury of the popliteal and leg arteries, severe limb ischemia was present in 72.2 and 34.3% of cases respectively. The surgical management was worked out depending on the severity of the patient general condition and the degree of limb ischemia. Primary limb amputation was performed in 17 (16%) patients; the indications for it were moist gangrene, severe traumas with major destructions and defects of other anatomic structures (inadvisability of revascularization), critical condition of the casualty, severe circulatory decompensation observed even in the early times of referral, when it was necessary to save the patient's life. Different surgical interventions were undertaken in 89 patients: ligation of the vessel in the event of one artery injury (24), revascularization (61) and fasciotomy, hematoma evacuation and bone reposition (4). Eleven (10.4%) patients underwent secondary amputation. Beneficial results with complete circulatory compensation were obtained in 78 (73.6%) patients. The total incidence of amputation and lethality accounted for 26.4%.