[The compartment syndrome after fractures of the calf]

In the submitted paper the authors summarize views regarding the definition, causes of compartment syndrome, its classification, the diagnostic and therapeutic procedure. In a group of 165 fractures of the leg treated in 1984-1987 in the Traumatological Research Institute in Brno the compartment syndrome was found in 26 patients. The author supplements the problem by case-histories of two patients with compartment syndrome. He discusses the need of early and correct diagnosis, differential diagnosis, therapy, involving in the manifest form of the syndrome decompression by fascitotomy.