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Abstract
During a 4-year period, in the Department of Plastic Surgery and Vascular Surgery
at the Clinical Hospital Centre in Zagreb, 151 upper limb nerve injuries caused by
war weapons were treated using microsurgical procedures, and 119 patients have been
assessed. Among them, 44 patients with 58 nerve injuries had associated arterial injuries.
It is of great importance that peripheral nerve as well as vessel injuries should
be considered in all extremity war wounds. Every effort should be made to perform
immediate revascularization of a damaged artery, as this is the best guarantee for
long-term arterial patency. Reconstruction with autologous vein has been the method
of choice for arterial was injuries. Injured peripheral nerves, at the time of vascular
repair, were marked and left for secondary reconstruction. Primary repair of such
injuries was contraindicated because it was impossible to determine the exact proximal
and distal extent of injury. Functional results were obtained in only 44.8 per cent
of cases with concomitant nerve and arterial war injuries, an outcome that could be
explained by insufficient vascularization at the site of nerve repair (using both
mechanisms of graft revascularization), as well as proximal levels of injury and extent
of nerve damage, which resulted in long nerve defects.
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Article info
Publication history
Received:
March 29,
1997
Identification
Copyright
© 1997 Published by Elsevier Inc.
