Single-vessel forearm arterial repairs. Patency rates using nuclear angiography

Nuclear angiograms were used to determine early and delayed patency rates following primary microvascular repair of 12 radial and 24 ulnar arteries in 36 patients. All patients had nuclear angiograms within 1 week after repair, demonstrating an early patency rate of 86.1%. Nineteen patients had additional nuclear angiograms at various intervals from 30 days to 2 years, showing a delayed patency rate of 68.4% at an average of 5.4 months follow up. Survival analysis showed that patency fell steadily during the first 90 days postoperatively, after which no further arterial occlusions occurred. Patency rates were not significantly affected by age or sex of the patient, level of forearm injury, total tourniquet time, treatment delay, or the diameter of nylon suture used for arterial repair. At follow up, there were statistically insignificant trends for higher patency rates in patients with partial vessel lacerations and in nonsmokers.