Popliteal artery and trifurcation injuries: is it possible to predict the outcome?

The records of 18 consecutive patients with popliteal and/or trifurcation civilian arterial injuries, who underwent revascularisation procedures during a 5-year period, were retrospectively assessed. All patients were classified using four, previously described, severity scoring systems in an effort to investigate the accuracy of predicting the outcome of this type of injury. Classification of the severity of popliteal artery trauma would be useful (a) for setting objective criteria (if any) for primary amputation and (b) for retrospective assessment of the results in vascular audit. The amputation rate in this group was 28%. Limbs which could not be salvaged were all in the "trifurcation" group and in this subset of patients the amputation rate was 71% (5/7). The scoring index having the higher overall accuracy (94%) was the mangled extremity syndrome index (MESI) with a predictive value for amputation of 83%. The use of these indices as criteria for primary amputation needs further evaluation as no scoring system was specific enough to permit primary amputation on that basis alone. The predictive value for limb salvage was 100%, for all four scoring systems enabling their use in vascular trauma audit.