[Surgical treatment of vascular injuries of the legs]

This retrospective study was carried out on 24 patients admitted to the Surgical Thoracic Department of the United Hospitals in Foggia between 1984 and 1992. In most cases are patients with multiple traumas, victims of road accidents. Different types of surgical treatment have been used, from the ligation or suture of the perforating artery to the resection with anastomosis T-T or interposition of graft. When there were bony injuries too, the vascular repairing venous-arterial, was carried out after the orthopedic one. The nerves have been repaired after the vessels. The nervous injuries are the chief cause of permanent functional damage, because today the success of the surgical operation used in the vascular injuries of the limbs is increased to values about 90%. For the vascular sutures we have used material that is not absorbed, the monofilament. The present average rate of amputation of 10% can be more lowered if we put attention to complementary expedients and if there is a more active and quicker collaboration among the different specialized departments.