Insidious vascular injuries in orthopedics: a report of 50 cases

Abstract

Objective To investigate clinical characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of insidious vascular injuries in orthopaedic cases. Methods Between March 2003 and October 2010, we treated 649 cases of orthopedic and vascular injuries, 50 (7. 7% ) of which were identified as insidious injuries. They were 42 men and 8 women, aged from 13 to 66 years (average, 34. 0 years). The insidious injury affected the vein in one case, the artery in 42 cases and both in 7 cases. The vascular injuries were categorized as type A (14 cases), type B (20 cases) and type C (16 cases) according to the classification system proposed by Zhang Ying-ze. The diagnoses were made after an average of 43. 4 days from primary injuries, with the assistance of color Doppler ultrasound in 17 cases, CT angiography in 7 and X-ray angiography in 25. Clinical manifestations included limb ischemia, compartment syndrome, hematoma or pseudoaneurysm, hemorrhage and nerve entrapment. Forty-three patients were treated by a variety of surgical options, such as angiorrhaphy, anastomosis, transplantation of autogenous venous graft, ligation and amputation. Among them, hemofiltration was performed in 2 cases as adjuvant therapy. Endovascular embolization was performed in 4 cases and conservative treatment in the other 3. Results Forty-six patients had their limbs salvaged, with normal temperature and color of the skin and existence of distal arterial pulses at discharge from hospital. The other 4 patients had to sustain amputation. An average follow-up of 6. 7 months (from one to 42 months) revealed that all the affected limbs regained normal blood circulation. Conclusions The insidious presentations and atypical clinical manifestations make diagnosis of insidious vascular injury very difficult. We recommend angiography as the first step in diagnosis. Surgical approaches should be considered as the main treatment choice, and hemopurification can be used as adjuvant therapy if necessary. In some cases, endovascular intervention may be faster and safer. Key words: Blood vessels; Wounds and injuries; Diagnosis; Therapy