Abstract
Objective To explore the role of severity of limb ischemic injury in the treatment of popliteal artery injury. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted of 259 patients with popliteal artery injury who had been treated from January 2002 to December 2014. They were 187 males and 72 females with a median age of 37.6 years (range, from 14 to 68 years). The time from injury to revascularization was from 4 hours to 29 days. According to the Rutherford classification system, the limb ischemic injury was categorized into 4 grades: grade Ⅰ: presence of sense and motion; grade Ⅱ: presence of sense but loss of active motion; grade Ⅲ: loss of sense or motion; grade Ⅳ: stiffness. For all the patients with injury of grades Ⅰ and Ⅱ, limb salvage was adopted and opening decompression to osteofascial compartment was performed depending on the intraoperative and postoperative limb swelling. For the patients with grade Ⅲ injury, opening decompression to osteofascial compartment was performed to explore the activity of muscles in those with a strong will to preserve their limbs. When the muscle activity was poor but bright red bleeding was found at the broken muscle ends and there were no fish-like changes in muscles, limb salvage was suggested; otherwise amputation was chosen. For all the patients with grade Ⅳ injury, amputation was suggested. Results Of the 146 cases of limb salvages, 142 were successful and 4 failed due to uncontrollable infection, giving a total success rate of 54.83% (142/259). Complete rupture of the popliteal artery occurred in 23 cases, incomplete rupture or tear in 17, contusion and thrombosis in 219. No patient died due to popliteal artery injury or its complications. The patients with injury of grades Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ were respectively 51, 88, 67 and 53; their success rates of limb salvage were respectively 100.00% (51/51) , 96.59% (85/88) , 8.96% (6/67) and 0. For the patients whose time from injury to revascularization was 1 w, the success rates of limb salvage were respectively 80.77% (42/52) , 54.58% (73/134) , 20.51% (8/39) , 33.33% (6/18) , and 81.25% (13/16). The 142 patients whose limbs had been salvaged obtained an average follow-up of 31.4 months (range, from 6 months to 8 years). Of them, those with grade I injury obtained normal plantar sensation and active ankle flexion and extension. Of the 85 patients with grade Ⅱ injury, all recovered normal or nearly normal plantar sensation, 29 achieved partial recovery of active ankle and digital flexion and extension, but the other 56 obtained no recovery of active ankle motion. Of the 6 patients with grade Ⅲ injury, none obtained recovery of motion function, 4 achieved partial recovery of plantar sensation but the other 2 had no recovery. Conclusion The classification of popliteal artery injury into 4 grades according to its severity of ischemic injury can provide helpful guidance to the treatment and prognosis assessment of the popliteal artery injury. Key words: Popliteal artery; Ischemia; Amputation, traumatic; Clinical protocols
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