Tourniquet in Surgery of the Limbs: A Review of History, Types and Complications

CONTEXT: A tourniquet is a device that is used frequently in most orthopaedic surgeries but this routine device can lead to serious complications so we decided to review and declare it for safe instruction and use. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: We searched the word “tourniquet” in PubMed and Google and reviewed all full text English articles and abstracts of non-English articles. In addition, we read all the reference pages of articles to find the new references. RESULTS: The use of tourniquet in orthopedic surgery can lead to serious but rare complications that can be prevented by its correct knowledge and use. CONCLUSIONS: At present, there is not enough evidence to discontinue the routine uses of tourniquets.