Transection of the popliteal artery whilst trampolining.

A 24 year old West Indian woman was admitted as an emergency having suffered an injury to the right knee on landing awkwardly on a trampoline. She was a reasonably experienced club trampoliner and on admission there was an obvious dislocation of the right knee joint. The peripheral pulses were absent in the right foot and capillary return was sluggish. The anterior dislocation (Figs. 1 and 2) was reduced under intravenous Diazepam without difficulty, but there was very little improvement in the circulation to the foot. An arteriorgram (Fig. 3) was immediately performed which showed a block in the popliteal artery at the adductor hiatus some 10 cms above the knee joint, although there was some "run off" indicating collateral circulation.