Iatrogenic Vascular Injuries: A Review

Abstract

Vascular injuries provide a significant challenge to emergency room staff because they call for quick action to avert loss of life or limb. Sometimes only modest or latent indications or symptoms of significant vascular damage are present. The patient may show signs of vascular insufficiency, embolization, pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous fistula, etc., weeks or months after the initial damage. Although gunshot wounds, stabbings, and blast injuries account for the majority of vascular injuries, patients who have displaced long bone fractures, crush injuries, prolonged immobilization in a fixed position due to tight casts or bandages, and various invasive procedures should be evaluated for the possibility of vascular injury. Further investigations are required to help identify risk variables that might put a patient at more risk of suffering harm than benefiting from an intervention.