Compartment syndrome: a complication of acute extremity trauma

Compartment syndrome is a serious potential complication of trauma to the extremities. Fractures, crush injuries, burns, and arterial injuries, among others, can result in increased tissue pressure within closed osseofascial or compartmental spaces. Prolonged exposure to elevated pressure can result in nerve and muscle necrosis. Extreme pain unrelieved with analgesia, subjective complaint of pressure, pain with passive muscle stretching, paresis, paresthesia, and intact pulses, in the presence of a physically tight compartment, should alert the physician to the presence of a compartment syndrome. The diagnosis is a clinical one, but it may be aided by measurements of intracompartmental tissue pressures. Compartment syndrome is a surgical emergency requiring prompt treatment by fasciotomy. Time is a critical factor; the longer the duration of elevated tissue pressure, the greater the potential for disastrous sequelae. Emergency medicine providers must be cognizant of this clinical syndrome so that early emergent surgical consultation can be obtained to avoid complications.