Acute ischaemia complicating limb trauma.

DeBakey and Simeone (1946) found that 686 per cent of amputations among United States troops in the second world war were done as the result of arterial trauma. Amputation was required in 4O 3 per cent of cases of arterial trauma. Arterial injuries associated with fractures showed a 50 per cent loss of limb with reparative measures, whereas there was a 70 per cent loss of limb when the vessel was ligated. During the Korean War more advanced arterial techniques were used, particularly in reconstruction, with consequent improvement in the results-the amputation rate after arterial repair was reduced to 7 per cent (Morton, Southgate and Deweese 1966). This paper reviews twelve patients with major arterial trauma-six closed injuries and six open-admitted to the Surgical Professorial Unit of the Richmond Hospital, Dublin, from 1964 to 1966.