The Management of Lower Extremity Multilevel Arterial Injuries: A 10-Year Experience

BACKGROUND: Limb amputation due to lower extremity arterial injury is not uncommon and multilevel arterial injury is even more limb-threatening and easily missed with potentially devastating consequences. There is limited information on multilevel arterial injuries. PURPOSE: We undertook a review of our experience to gain insight on multilevel arterial injury patterns associated with lower extremity trauma and to analyze the results of management of such injuries with a special focus on the influence of initial diagnosis on limb salvage. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between August 2002 and September 2012, 38 patients with lower extremity multilevel arterial injuries were reviewed, retrospectively. The injury patterns and amputation rates associated with initial diagnosis or misdiagnosis were analyzed. RESULTS: According to their injury levels, three multilevel arterial injury patterns were seen in this series: arterial injuries with the involvement of femoral artery and popliteal artery (pattern A), femoral artery and anterior or (and) posterior artery (pattern B), and popliteal artery and anterior or (and) posterior artery (pattern C). The general missed diagnosis rate was 31.6%. Pattern B had a much higher missed diagnosis rate than the other two patterns. The missed diagnosis rate was significantly correlated with the amputation rates (Odds Ratio =10.7, 95% CI: 2.04-56.61). The definite diagnosis rate was only 14.8% using duplex ultrasonography examination. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis of pattern B injury is more prone to be missed. DUS has low specificity in the detection of multilevel arterial injuries. Aggressive intraoperative exploration is considered to be valuable in the definitive diagnosis of highly suspected cases when other diagnostic tools are unavailable.