[Angiological complications following high tibial head correcting osteotomy--a case report]

Vascular complications following orthopedic procedures at the lower extremity are mainly thrombotic or thromboembolic events. Damages to vascular structures during operations close to the knee joint, like injuries of the popliteal artery, are extremely rare and receive a reserved consideration in the evaluation of postoperative complications. The extent of the vessel injury affects the grade of clinical symptoms-from acute arterial bleeding as far as slowly developing disturbances of haemodynamic, with effects to the different functions and pattern of the concerned tissues. Arterial bleeding into muscle compartments do not necessarily appear as an acute emergency, therefore it may occasionally be difficult to place the clinical symptoms into the right context of pathophysiological processes. In the present case a deep vein thrombosis of the affected extremity was initiated by a haemorrhage into the fossa popliteal and the compartments of the lower leg after injury of the popliteal artery. Subsequently a compartment syndrome, a false aneurysm of the popliteal artery and an arteriovenous fistula from popliteal artery into a lower leg vein developed.