Traumatic arteriovenous fistula: experience with 202 patients

Experience with the management of 202 patients with 210 traumatic arteriovenous fistulas is reported. Penetrating trauma accounted for 98 per cent of injuries caused mainly by stabs (63 per cent) and missile wounds (26 per cent). Seven of 15 patients with shotgun wounds had multiple lesions. Over half of all fistulas occurred in the cervico-mediastinal vessels; abdominal and thoracic vessels were infrequently involved. The upper limbs were involved in 22 per cent and the lower limbs in 20 per cent. Some 133 patients were diagnosed and treated within 1 week of injury; 69 presented 1 week to 12 years later. Machinery murmur was noted in 61 per cent of the early presenters, but was an almost universal finding in those presenting late. Only three patients had cardiac failure and all had underlying cardiomyopathy. Active overt haemorrhage was not common. Arterial continuity was restored in 80 per cent of cases, usually by autogenous reconstruction. Venous injury was usually treated by ligation or lateral suture. Patients treated within 1 week of injury had a lower rate of perioperative mortality and morbidity than those treated late, due mainly to technical difficulties in controlling the vessels caused by fibrosis and massive venous dilatation. If a policy of selective exploration of penetrating trauma is to be followed, careful assessment for arteriovenous fistula must be made and the patient evaluated at regular intervals for several months. Shotgun injuries require routine angiography at the time of presentation. The earlier treatment is instituted, the better the results.