METHODS: This is a clinical audit involving all patients admitted to our institution from January 2008 to June 2018 of those who had undergone revascularization surgery for lower limb trauma.
RESULTS: Fifty-nine patients were in this study with a mean age of 28.1 years. Most of the patients were motorcyclist involved in road traffic accidents with cars (n=30, 50.8%). The popliteal artery was most commonly seen injury (n=41, 69.5%). The mean duration of ischaemia was 14.1 hours. The limb salvage rate was 89.8%.
CONCLUSION: Lower extremity vascular injury caused by RTA treated in our institution predominantly involved young patients aged between 18-30 years associated with long bone fractures causing contusion and thrombosis of the popliteal artery.
CASE PRESENTATION: This is a case of a 37-year-old, right-hand dominant, Malay man who fell approximately 6 meters from a rambutan tree and his left arm hit the tree trunk on his way down. He was an active tobacco smoker with a 20 pack year smoking history. On clinical examination, Doppler signals over his radial and ulnar arteries were poor. He proceeded with emergency computed tomography angiogram of his left upper limb which showed non-opacification of contrast at the distal left brachial artery just before the bifurcation of the left brachial artery at his left elbow joint. Radiographs and computed tomography scan also showed undisplaced fracture of left lateral epicondyle and radial head with no evidence of elbow dislocation. He subsequently underwent left brachial to brachial artery bypass which was done using reversed saphenous vein graft and recovered well. His fractures were treated using 90 degree long posterior splint for 2 weeks and he was then allowed early range of motion of the left elbow. This patient developed left elbow dislocation 6 weeks postoperatively. Closed manipulative reduction of his left elbow resulted in incomplete reduction. The functional outcome of his left elbow was limited with a range of motion of left elbow of 0-45 degrees. However, he was not keen for surgery to stabilize his elbow joint during his last follow-up 6 months post injury.
CONCLUSIONS: This is an uncommon case of brachial artery injury in a civilian caused by blunt trauma associated with occult elbow instability/dislocation and minor fractures around the elbow joint. The treatment of brachial artery injury with clinical evidence of distal ischemia is surgical revascularization. The possibility of elbow instability and dislocation need to be considered in all cases of brachial artery injury because early radiographs and computed tomography scans may be normal. Short-term posterior splint immobilization is not sufficient to prevent recurrent dislocations.