Evaluation of Various Vascular Injuries Caused by Trauma, Surgical Procedures and Complications of Surgery

Treatment of traumatic vascular lesions requires accurate and rapid diagnosis. Improper treatment and waste of time will lead to loss of limbs, lives, or injuries caused by ischemia. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate various surgical methods and complications of vascular injuries.

 This Cross-sectional study were included all trauma patients referred to Shohada-e-Ashayer hospital, Khorramabad, Iran, and Shaheed Chamran hospital, Boroujerd, Iran, with the possibility of vascular injury from 2015 to 2019. Demographic characteristics, duration of surgery, complications of vascular injury, mechanism of vascular injury, type of vascular injury, location of vascular injury, clinical symptoms, comorbidities, and vital signs upon entry were extracted and recorded in the checklist.

Overall, 233 patients were included with a mean age of 29.15 ± 11.8 years (maximum 78 years and a minimum two years) and a male to female ratio of 20: 1. Six patients (25.8%) via venous graft and 11 cases (4.7%) by arterial ligation procedures were treated. Six cases (2.6%) with minor arterial injury were treated without surgical intervention. The artery was completely amputated in 135 patients (9.57%) and partial amputation in 83 cases (6.35%). The arterial thrombosis in 70 cases (30%), intimal flap in 14 patients (6%), vascular spasm in 4 cases (7.1%), crush injury in 4 cases (7.1%), arterial fistula in 1 patient (4.0%), and deep vein thrombosis in 3 cases (1/3 %) were observed.

Vascular injury following penetrating trauma occurs typically at young ages. However, the rate of vascular damage in the arteries was much higher than in the veins. The type of surgical treatment and side effects of treating vascular injuries vary depending on the type, severity, and other parameters associated with the trauma.