Postoperative non-traumatic compartment syndrome (PNCS) in gynecologic surgery

The postoperative non-traumatic compartment syndrome (PNCS) is a rare, but serious postoperative complication. Etiology, risk factors and clinical manifestation of PNCS are not well characterized since data in gynecologic and obstetric patients are limited.

We performed a retrospective monocentric study of patients who underwent surgery for gynecologic or obstetrics conditions and identified five cases of PNCS, which were analyzed and compared to a control cohort in regard of incidence, clinical presentation, risk factors and clinical outcome.

Five cases of PNCS were identified among 19.432 patients treated between 2008 and 2019 with an incidence rate of 0.026%. The clinical examination was shown to be unreliable, lacking sensitivity in most clinical signs. Young age, obesity and long operation time were risk factors for the development of a PNCS. Fasciotomy for the treatment of a PNCS should not be delayed, since permanent function loss may occur early.

A low threshold of clinical suspicion might be prudent to identify PNCS following gynecologic surgery. In the presence of the described risk factors, any suspicion of a PNCS should be evaluated further and if necessary treated with fasciotomy urgently.