VASCULAR COMPLICATIONS IN ORTHOPEDIC PATIENTS TREATED BY ORTHOPEDIC MICROSURGEONS

Over a 20 year period, five patients experienced serious vascular comp lications involving major arterial insult during various routine ortho paedic procedures. The nature of the vascular damage necessitated imme diate surgical repair which was performed successfully by an orthopaed ic microsurgeon who was either a member of the initial surgical team o r the hospital's Orthopaedic Unit. The purpose of this study is to ill ustrate not only the severity of these limb and/or life-threatening co mplications, but also to focus attention on the importance of the orth opaedic surgeon's ability to manage these serious injuries promptly. T his suggests the need for Orthopaedic Units to have surgeons with adeq uate training in microvascular techniques, so as to be able to success fully manage these unexpected and serious complications. We conclude t hat the presence of a vascular surgeon or an orthopaedic surgeon train ed in microvascular surgery represents an invaluable attribute to the orthopaedic team, and minimizes, if not eliminates the potentially dis astrous outcome from these serious intraoperative vascular complicatio ns.