3 There is a plethora of literature

on the management of combined arterial and musculoskeletal injuries of lower extremities.4 If left unteated, the widespread car vasular injuires cased by car accidents in may lead to leg amputations. Various techniques have been employed to salvaged the injured legs and prevent their amputation. Two of the most advanced techniques for managing vascular injuries to the legs include femoropopliteal bypass and inpterposition veinous graft. The objective of the present study was to compare the outcome and complications of the methods. Materials and INCB024360 cost Methods The study is a case series performed at the Department of Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Vascular Surgery, Pour Sina Hopspital in Rasht, Iran, recruiting 40 consecutive patients whom Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical underwent surgical treatment for blunt and penetrating popliteal artery traumatic wounds

from May 2003 to October 2008. The patients included 32 men and eight women with an age of 39±13 years. As a routine hospital procedure, written consent were obtained from all patients. The etiology of vascular injuries included penetrating trauma (n=6, 15%), blunt trauma (n=33, 82.5%), and unidentified cause (n=1, 2.5%). Twenty six (65%) of the patients were subjected to autogenous interposition grafs and 14 others (35%) underwent femorpopliteal bypass grafts. The injuries associated with the focus of the study (blunt and penetrating popliteal artery Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical traumatic injuries) included partial laceration (n=24, 60%), knee dislocation (n=22, 55%), popliteal vein injury (n=28, 70%), ligament injury Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (n=18, 45%) and fractures (n=14, 35%). The interval between the injury and the procedure ranged 6-18 hours. Operative management included femoropoplitel bypass (n=14) of the injured segment with the ligation of popliteal artery proximal and distal to the area of injury to prevent distal embolization and bleeding, and to promote effective revascularization. Some other Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical patients (n=26) were

subjected to venous interposition bypass graft through medial longitudinal knee incision. Immediate recovery of pedal pulses was associated with the best long-term patency. For postoperative follow-up, bypass graft duplex scanning below was performed before hospital discharge, three months after the surgery and every six months thereafter. The patients’ deomgraphy and clinical characteristics as well as the techniques used and the complications encountered were analyzed using Chi-Square or Fisher Exact test. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 10) was used for data analysis. A P value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant. Results Thirty two (80%) cases were men with an age of 39±13 years, and eight (20%) cases were females. Twenty six patients were operated within 12 hours of sustaining the wounds. Car accidents had caused the wounds in 34 (85%) patients, and in 28 (70%) patients the popliteal artery had been transected.