Abstract
Background and Objectives:Vascular trauma is a life-threatening condition. On the other hand, it is the third cause of deaths in human populations. This study has been developed for assessment of signs, types, and causes of vascular traumas and types of performed treatments.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 124 patients with vascular traumas at Tabriz Imam Khomeini Hospital, from April 1998 to March 2000, in which 5 cases were females and 119 were males.
Results: The most frequent of them were arterial. Isolated venous lesions were found in 15 cases. The most frequent arterial trauma was femoral artery trauma and the most frequent venous one was popliteal. The average hospitalization period was 10.5 days and the average amount of blood transfusion was 3.35 U. The greatest of cases included penetrating stabs or sharp bodies traumas (63%) and the blunt trauma was 21%. There were both penetrating and blunt traumas in 16% of cases. In blunt trauma, the involvement of lower limbs was more frequent. The majority of patients were operated within the first 9 to 10 hours and the most frequent operation was end-to-end anastomosis. There were 6 cases of amputation often in lower limbs (5 cases) and one case in upper ones. The cause of amputation in 3 cases was infection and the most common microbial cause was streptococcus. The most common forms of injury were complete or partial vascular injury, and mortality occurred in 4 out of 124 patients (3.2%).
Conclusion: The signs, types of vascular lesions, and performed treatments are similar to previous published statistical data.