[Acute compartment syndrome following a total knee arthroplasty]

Acute compartment syndrome is a rare, but severe complication to knee arthroplasty. The main symptoms are extreme pain unrelated to the surgery, pulselessness, and tense and pallid skin. The syndrome can be disguised by an effective pain management, but due to the consequences, an early diagnosis and fasciotomy is important. We describe a case with a patient, who had undergone a total knee arthroplasty and after a postoperative period of 5,5 hours she developed extreme pain in the limb, below the operated knee. The diagnosis was confirmed by sonography, and an acute fasciotomy was performed.