Risk and prognostic factors of replantation failure in patients with severe traumatic major limb mutilation

PURPOSE: Traumatic mutilation of major limbs can result in limb loss, motor disability, or death. Patients who had replantation failure needed to undergo additional surgeries (even amputation) and had a longer length of hospital stay. Here, we determined the risk and prognostic factors of replantation failure in patients with traumatic major limb mutilation. METHODS: This retrospective study included adult inpatients with severed traumatic major limb mutilation who underwent replantation from Suzhou Ruixing Medical Group from October 18, 2016 to July 31, 2020. Demographic, and clinical characteristics including traumatic conditions, laboratory findings, mangled extremity severity scores (MESS), treatments, and outcomes of the patients were collected. Data were used to analyze predictors and risk factors for replantation failure. RESULTS: Among the 66 patients, 48 (72.7%) were males, the median age was 47.0 years old. Replantation failure occurred in 48 patients (72.7%). The area under the curve of the joint prediction of lactic acid on admission, 72-h cumulative fluid balance, and albumin level immediately postoperatively was 0.838 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.722–0.954; P < 0.001) with a sensitivity of 89.7% and a specificity of 69.2%. Lower limb trauma (odds ratio [OR] 8.65, 95% CI 1.64–45.56, P = 0.011), mangled extremity severity scores (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.25–4.01, P = 0.007), and first 72-h cumulative fluid balance > 4885.6 mL (OR 10.25, 95% CI 1.37–76.93, P = 0.024) were independent risk factors for replantation failure. CONCLUSIONS: Lower limb trauma, mangled extremity severity scores, and cumulative water balance were associated with replantation failure, implying that fluid management is necessary for major limb salvage. More studies are needed to explore the predictive power of indicators related to tissue oxygenation and wound healing for replantation failure. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00068-021-01876-w.