2018 Volume 27 Issue 6 Pages 473-476
A 25 year-old man had his legs injured by a steal pipe during his work and was brought to our emergency department. He had left knee swelling, pulseless left dorsal artery without Doppler blood flow, and pulseless left posterior tibial artery with poor Doppler blood flow. He had no other ischemic signs such as pain, pallor, and paresthesia. X-ray showed left knee dislocation. Computerized tomography with contrast following left knee diaplasis revealed a 2.5-cm occlusion of left popliteal artery, and 3 branches with poor blood flow from the collateral circulation. He started complaining of ischemic signs 5 hours after his visit. Thus, he underwent emergency surgery, a left above-the-knee popliteal artery to below-the-knee popliteal artery bypass with saphenous vein graft, using intraoperative angiography. The time until reperfusion was about 8 hours. Postoperatively, the left dorsal artery and the left posterior tibial artery had good pulses and his ischemic symptoms resolved. Traumatic popliteal artery injury is rare, and quick, correct surgical treatment is essential to avoid a high risk of amputation. Careful and sequential clinical examinations are the most important, even when the initial symptoms are not significant. The authors report a case of traumatic popliteal artery injury with knee dislocation together with a review of the literature.
