J Korean Orthop Assoc.  2012 Feb;47(1):75-78. 10.4055/jkoa.2012.47.1.75.

Acute Compartment Syndrome in Association with Spontaneous Muscle Infarction

• Wang SI
• Park JH
• Lee JH

• KMID: 1439997
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4055/jkoa.2012.47.1.75

Abstract

Diabetic muscle infarction is a rare complication of diabetes mellitus that is not clearly defined in the orthopedic literature. In addition, acute compartment syndrome in association with diabetic muscle infarction is a rarer disease, which has had only a few cases have been reported up to date. A large and painful swelling was noticed in the thigh of a 55-year-old female, who had not experienced trauma. The patient was diagnosed as having compartment syndrome with diabetic muscle infarction by magnetic resonance imaging. The patient underwent immediate fasciotomy, and recovered without any complications.

Keyword

diabetic muscular infarction; compartment syndromes; fasciotomy

MeSH Terms

Compartment Syndromes
Diabetes Mellitus
Female
Humans
Infarction
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Middle Aged
Muscles
Orthopedics
Thigh

Figure

• 

  Figure 1 Diabetic muscle infarction. Shown on axial magnetic resonance imaging. (A) T1 weighted image (repetition time/echo time [TR/TE] 630/13), (B) fat-suppressed T2 weighted image (TR/TE 3100/54), (C) fat-suppressed post-gadolinium T1 weighted image (TR/TE 846/13) shows edema-like signal changes most severely within the vastus medialis muscle and vastus intermedius muscle. Characteristic non-enhancing area of slightly increased T1 and low T2 signal intensity is seen within the vastus medialis and vastus intermedius, with peripheral enhancing edema-like signal.

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  Figure 2 Diabetic muscle infarction. Coronal fat suppressed T1 (repetition time/echo time 661/12) post-intravenous gadolinium image show the longitudinal extent of enhancing signal changes, as well as the longitudinally oriented area of non-enhancement within the vastus medialis containing irregular streaky lines of enhancement.

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