Citation

Nicholas RM, Boston VE, Small J, Kerr Graham H. J. Bone Joint Surg. Br. 1995; 77(3): 439-441.

Affiliation

Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1995, British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

7744932

Abstract

Combined bony and vascular injuries present challenging problems to orthopaedic and vascular surgeons. The use of temporary intraluminal vascular shunts produces significant reductions in ischaemia time and allows fracture stabilisation to be performed before definitive, delicate vascular repair. We report our management of a five-week-old infant who sustained a comminuted fracture of the femur with arterial and venous injuries in a shooting incident. Paediatric nasogastric feeding tubes were used as temporary vascular shunts to re-establish the distal circulation. Stabilisation of the fracture was then followed by vascular reconstruction and soft-tissue surgery, with a good result. We emphasise the need for skills from several surgical disciplines in the management of complex combined injuries.

Language: en