Brachial artery thrombosis secondary to fixation screw pullout: Case report

The vascular supply of the shoulder and forearm are principal derivates of the ipsilateral subclavian artery. The trajectory of this arterial supply predisposes it to concomitant injuries in the shoulder and clavicular fractures proximally and elbow dislocation distally. Distal bicep tendon tears often occur most commonly in middle-aged men due to trauma to the elbow, typically in weight-bearing situations [1]. To our knowledge, this is the first case of distal biceps tendon tear repair resulting in distal brachial artery injury from displaced hardware due to postoperative re-injury. We present a case of a 41-year-old male who developed a vaso-occluding hematoma at the distal biceps secondary to a displaced fixation screw. The patient required emergency vascular surgery with embolectomy and arterial bypass. Although this patient fully recovered, the clinical course the patient experienced could have been minimized with appropriate postoperative care. This report aims to alert clinicians to the relevant local anatomy and relate it to the proposed mechanism of injury, thereby bringing attention to the importance of postoperative limb protection in at-risk patients. The timing of the injury, and the protracted rate of thrombus formation suggest that the brachial artery's thrombosis was associated with the screw pullout during reinjury of the area. Screw pullout in orthopedics is a rare phenomenon that can lead to significant complications. The risk of reinjury, screw pullout, and other complications such as thrombosis is evidence to support the careful treatment of the area postoperatively.