FIVE CASES OF NON-SEVERED TRAUMATIC ARTERIAL OBSTRUCTION OF THE EXTREMITY

Five patients with non-severed traumatic arterial obstruction of the extremity were treated during the last four years. Three were males and two were females. The mean age was 33 years with a range of 5-55 years. The cause of injury was a traffic accident in two patients and in the other three, it was industrial, domestic or iatrogenic. In three patients the obstruction was accompanied by a fracture. The anatomical location of the lesion in the five patients was the external iliac, common femoral, popliteal, axillar or brachial artery respectively. The nature of the obstruction was thrombosis in two patients and extrinsic compression or kinking in three.Only in two patients was the blood supply restored within six hours after injury. In the other three patients, it was restored in about 53, 93 or 172 hours. In all patients, the postoperative course was uneventful.In general, the permissible time lag between the injury and arterial repair is thought to be 6 to 8 hours, but this time lag is not absolute.