J Korean Fract Soc.  1994 May;7(1):113-121.

Treatment of the Long Bone fractures Assuiated with Vascular Injuries

• Ahn MW
• Choi YS
• Ahn JC

Abstract

Vascular injuries combined with long bone fractures have been infrequent and difficult to manage. Despite of recent advancement in the vacular repalr and fixation of fracutres, it is not easy to save the limb. In order to identify the factor associated with amputation or salvage of the affected limb, a retrospective study of 14 patients whose injured vessels were repaired primarily at the time of bone fixation was perfomed. The ischemic time, the degree of soft tissue or bone injury and the method of treatment were evaluated with relation to the limb salvage, 4(28.6%) of that 14 long bone fractures needed secondary amputation due to a vascular insufficiency. In 3 of 4 fractures, in which vascular repair were delayed over 24 hours, afftected limbs were amputated later. Thus, the ischemnic time was determined as an important factor for limb salvage after the vascular injury associated with the long bone fracture(p<0.05). However, the dogree of the soft tissue of bone injury and the method of treatment were not correlated with the limb salvage.

Keyword

Vascular injury; Salvage; Ischemic time; Long bone fracture

MeSH Terms

Amputation
Extremities
Fractures, Bone*
Humans
Limb Salvage
Methods
Retrospective Studies
Vascular System Injuries*