Introduction:Peripheralvascular injuriesinclude about 80% of allvascular injuries andthe studiesperformed so farin this areashowedthat the prevalence ofvasculartrauma is higher in menthanwomen.The aim ofthis study was to evaluate the frequencyandtypesof traumatic arterial injuries in patientsreferred toComputed Tomography (CT)department of Imam Reza Hospital.
Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study was approved by the ethics committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Patients’ information were recorded in a checklist, all patients who were referred to CT scan department of Imam Reza Hospitalfor Computed Tomography angiography (CTA) because of traumatic vascular injuries were enrolled the study. Data were recorded aboutpatients’ demographic characteristics (age and sex), mechanism of traumasuch ad accident (motorcyclist, pedestrian, car-rider), assaults, falls and so on, clinical symptoms at admission, type of arterial injury, and the report of CTA and the existence ofmusculoskeletal or neurologic comorbities. Patients’ management details were also evaluated. Data were coded and analyzed by SPSS version 16.
Results: 200 patients were evaluated in this study. The most common sites of involvement were the lower limbs (76%), thorax (16%), and upper limbs (8%). The most common abnormal angiographic pattern was run-off/ cut-off (52%), hematoma (15%), and aneurysm (5.5%). There was also nerve damage in 19% of patients. Surgical management was performed and included, end to end anastomosis in 32% of patients, thrombectomy in 23%, amputation in 18%, and ligation in 4% and vascular graft in 7%.
Conclusion: In ourstudy, there wasvascular injury in63.5% of patients based on the results of CTA. All vascular injuries were diagnosed by CTA were confirmed after vascular intervention and no serious vascular injury was reported in patients with negative CTA result at the follow-up period. So, CTA is a noninvasive and accurate diagnostic test.