Tibial shaft fractures with an associated infrapopliteal arterial injury: a survey of vascular surgeons opinions on the need for vascular repair.

Abstract

To determine current practice for tibial arterial revascularization in trauma patients with tibial shaft fractures associated with infrapopliteal arterial injuries. Nationwide survey of board-certified vascular surgeons, proportionally stratified by geographic region. We surveyed a random sample (probability sample stratified by geographic region) of 200 members of the 729 active members of the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery. We designed a twenty-one-item questionnaire to elicit opinions on the need for vascular repair for a variety of clinical scenarios. Completed questionnaires were returned by fifty-one vascular surgeons. For the eight isolated and combined infra-popliteal arterial injuries we studied, agreement between vascular surgeons as to the need for arterial repair was better for scenarios with clinical evidence of limb ischemia than for those without clinical evidence of limb ischemia. For injuries with clinical evidence of limb ischemia, excellent agreement (90 percent or more of respondents agreeing) was seen for five of the eight injuries, good agreement (80 to 89 percent of respondents agreeing) was seen for two injuries, and poor agreement (less than 70 percent of respondents agreeing) was seen for one injury. For injuries without clinical evidence of limb ischemia, excellent agreement was seen for one injury, good agreement was seen for two injuries, fair agreement (70 to 79 percent of respondents agreeing) was seen for three injuries, and poor agreement was seen for two injuries. A review of the literature and results of our study suggest that no standardized protocol exists in the current practice of revascularization of infrapopliteal arterial injuries with concomitant tibial shaft fractures; disagreement among vascular surgeons was particularly common for cases where a vessel was known to be injured but there was no clinical evidence of limb ischemia. Our study highlights the need for randomized prospective studies so that standardized protocols can be developed for these serious injuries. Because of the relatively small numbers of this type of injury and the wide variety of injury patterns seen, a study such as this would best be designed as a multi-center study.