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Incidence and importance of lower extremity nerve lesions after infrainguinal vascular surgical interventions
Objectives:
To determine the incidence of peripheral nerve lesions after arterial vascular surgery of the lower extremity.
Materials And Methods:
436 patients who underwent peripheral vascular surgery from January 1992 until December 1996 underwent a detailed postoperative neurological examination.
Results:
147 patients underwent profundaplasty, 140 above-knee femoropopliteal bypasses, 106 below-knee femoropopliteal bypasses and 56 femorotibial bypasses. There were 182 women and 254 men. Peripheral nerve lesions were observed in 11 patients (4%) after primary operations. 166 patients underwent reoperations (38%) and 55 of these developed nerve lesions (33%).
Conclusions:
Reoperation carries an 8-fold increased risk of nerve lesions compared with patients undergoing primary surgery. Detailed explanation of the risk of peripheral nerve lesions before vascular surgery of the lower limb is advisable.