[Traumatic vascular lesions of the knee joint]

The popliteal artery is a "critical" or key-artery, whose sudden occlusion leads to the ischemia-syndrome. The rate of amputation after missing or too late recovery is very high. The real time for the recovery runs to 3-6 hours. The reason for the injury of the vessel is the dorsal luxation of the knee-joint, the fracture of the lower thigh or the fracture of the tibial head with extreme dislocation of the fragments. The management of the diagnosis, the contents and the order of the surgical treatment are reported.