Arterial injures in the Emergency Room Practice of Traumatic Surgery

Background. Although arterial injuries occur rarely (1,15%), they often lead to serious consequences (13% limb amputation), and can be the cause of patient deaths (9%).
Material and methods. The research involved 23 cases of traumatic injury to arteries in patients admitten for traumatic surgery to the Emergency Room at the Traumatology Clinic of the Jagiellonian University's Collegium's Medicum from 1997 to 2000.
Results. The article presents the surgical methods and outcomes for the various cases reported. In two cases of damage to the abdominal artery the patient did not survive; two patients with damage to the popliteal artery and one patient with a damaged femoral artery, the limb could not be saved. In the remaining cases good results were obtained.
Conclusions. The most important factors influencing outcome in the treatment of traumatic artery damage are the localization and nature of the injury and the time that elapses from the moment of injury until the patient arrives in the operating theater. For this reason it is essential that the trauma team have a physician with experience in vascular surgery.