Vascular Injuries of the Upper Limb in a Urban Trauma Center: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract

Vascular injuries of the upper limb are commonly encountered in our tertiary care center. It ranges from simple accidental cut injury to a major crush injury with severe contaminated soft tissue, bony and nerve injury. In our study we have retrospectively analyzed the case records of those who had vascular injuries, distal to the deltopectoral groove, managed with vascular repair as an emergency procedure.We studied the pattern of injury, demographics, associated injuries and patency of vascular repair done. Iatrogenic injuries were excluded. 14.6% of injuries involved the pediatric age group. About 82 patients were included in the study. Majority (87%) were males. Mean age was 59.5 years. Mean duration from injury to vascular repair was 5 hours. Blunt injuries were predominant(63.4%). Brachial artery was commonly involved. Interposition repair with autologous reversed great saphenous vein was frequently used procedure. 51.2% of injuries had associated bony injury and 41.2% had nerve injuries. The patency rate of vascular repair was highest in brachial artery repair group, followed by forearm vessels repair group. The limb salvage rate was 97.6%.