Vascular injuries caused by anti-personnel mines

During a 3 month period 94 patients, injured by anti-personnel mines on the Thailand-Cambodian border, underwent emergency surgical treatment in the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) hospital in Khao-I-Dang, Thailand. As a result of difficult evacuation facilities at the border, the mean time between injury caused by an anti-personnel mine and admission to the hospital was 8.3 hours (range: 2.5 to 14 hours). However, in 14 patients a penetrating vessel injury was sustained, and these underwent surgical treatment. Peripheral vascular repair was performed in 10 patients. The vessels involved in these reconstructions were: popliteal artery: 4, femoral artery: 2, anterior tibial artery: 3, femoral vein: 1. Vascular repair of the iliac artery and vein was performed in 1 patient. Limb amputation had to be performed in 3 patients, due to the long duration of tourniquet application in these cases. In the field conditions at Khao-I-Dang hospital many surgical facilities normally present in Western hospitals were unavailable. However, our series shows that satisfactory results could be obtained, despite adverse working conditions.