Traumatic brachial artery injuries

We performed this retrospective study to analyze our strategies for managing and surgically treating brachial artery injuries. Fifty-seven patients with a total of 58 traumatic brachial artery injuries underwent surgery at our institution, from August 1996 through November 2004. Fifty-four patients were male and 3 were female (age range, 7 to 75 years; mean, 29.4 years). Forty-four of the patients had penetrating injuries (18 had stab wounds; 16, window glass injuries; and 10, industrial accidents), 10 had blunt trauma injuries (traffic accidents), and 3 had gunshot injuries. Fourteen patients (24.6%) had peripheral nerve injury. All patients underwent Doppler ultrasonographic examination. The repair of the 58 arterial injuries involved end-to-end anastomosis for 32 injuries (55.2%), reverse saphenous vein graft interpositional grafts for 18 (31%), and primary repair for 8 (13.8%). Venous continuity was achieved in 11 (84.6%) of 13 patients who had major venous injuries. Nine of the 57 patients (15.8%) required primary fasciotomy. Follow-up showed that 5 of the 14 patients with peripheral nerve injury had apparent disabilities due to nerve injury. One patient underwent amputation. There were no deaths. We believe that good results can be achieved in patients with brachial artery injuries by use of careful physical examination, Doppler ultrasonography, and restoration of viability with vascular repair and debridement of nonviable tissues. Traumatic neurologic injury frequently leads to disability of the extremities.