Trauma Flashcards
List potential orthopedic emergencies
- Open fracture
- Irreducible dislocations
- Vascular injury
- Amputation
- Compartment syndrome
- Unstable pelvic fracture/ hemodynamic instability
- Multiply-injured patient
- Spinal cord injury
- Displaced femoral neck and talar neck fractures
4 conditions considered vascular injury
- Blood loss
- Progressive ischemia
- Compartment syndrome
- Tissue necrosis
What is the time frame for irreversible damage?
6 hrs
Vascular injury is increased with…
- Proximity of vessels to bone
- Tethering of vessels at joints
- Superficial location of vessels
Clavicle fracture
-artery
subclavian
Shoulder fx/dislocation
-artery
axillary
Supracondylar humerus fx
-artery
brachial
Elbow dislocation
-artery
brachial
Pelvic fx
-artery
gluteal and/or iliac arteries
Femoral shaft fx
-artery
femoral
Distal femur fx
-artery
popliteal
Knee dislocation
-artery
popliteal
Tibial shaft fx
-artery
tibial
Incidence of fracture or dislocation with vascular injury
-uncommon, only 3% of long bone fractures
specific circumstances:
-fractures with GSW (up to 38%) and knee dislocations (16-40%)
Mechanism of injury
Penetrating trauma
- GSW
- Stab
Blunt trauma
- High energy
- Low energy
Iatrogenic
Types of vascular injuries
- Vascular spasms
- Intimal flaps
- Subintimal hematoma
- Laceration
- Transection
- Thrombosis/Occlusion
- A-V fistula
Consequences of vascular injury
- Blood loss
- Ischemia
- Compartment syndrome
- Tissue necrosis
- Amputation
- Death
Prognostic factors
- Level and type of vascular injury
- Collateral circulation
- Shock/hypotension
- Tissue damage (crush injury)
- Warm ischemia time
- Patient factors/medical conditions
What is the most crucial factor to trauma?
SPEED!!
- Rapid resuscitation
- Complete, rapid evaluation
- Urgent surgical treatment
Which protocol fall under the category of immediate treatment?
- Control bleeding
- Replace volume loss
- Cover wounds
- Reduce fractures/dislocations
- Splint
- Re-evaluate
What are the keys to diagnosis?
- Physical exam
- Doppler pressure (Ankle/brachial systolic pressure index (ABI))
- Duplex scanning
- Arteriogram
- Exploration
**careful PE and high suspicion are most important!
What should you be looking for on physical exam of the vasculature?
- Major hemorrhage/hypotension
- Arterial bleeding
- Expanding hematoma
- Altered distal pulses
- Pallor
- Temperature differential between extremities
- Injury to anatomically-related nerve
Which types of pulses warrant further exam??
- Asymmetric pulses warrant doppler examination (determine ABI)
- Absent pulses warrant emergent vascular consultation/surgical exploration