Carotid artery injury caused by blunt cervical trauma. Case report.

Three cases of carotid artery injury following blunt cervical trauma are reported and the literature is reviewed. The condition carries high morbidity and mortality rates, due to occlusion of the internal carotid artery. The diagnosis is often delayed, as the symptoms of carotid injury frequently are mistakenly attributed to head injury. The insidious course, with neurologic deficit developing in an alert patient prior to lowering of consciousness, distinguishes blunt carotid artery injury from head injury. Aortic arch angiography is crucial for the diagnosis, and should be frequently performed in patients who have sustained blunt cervical trauma. Normal computed tomography of the brain does not exclude ischaemic cerebral infarction, visualization of which requires several days. Tomography of the neck following intravenous injection of contrast medium may be useful for demonstrating occlusion of the carotid artery. Heightened awareness of this injury is important for early diagnosis. Immediate revascularization may improve the poor prognosis.

Late mortality and morbidity after arterial reconstruction: the influence of arteriosclerosis in popliteal artery trifurcation.

Mortality and the incidence of myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular lesion have been retrospectively analyzed in patients who have survived 30 days after lower limb vascular reconstruction. These events have been related to the extent of arteriosclerotic lesions in the trifurcation of the popliteal artery (trifurcational disease, TFD) in 368 patients treated consecutively. One hundred fifty-five patients underwent aortoiliac reconstruction, 229 had femorodistal bypass, and 16 underwent both procedures. The median follow-up period was 4.4 years. The mortality rate in male and female patients was increased compared with the expected mortality. This increase was found both in patients with and without TFD. In patients having TFD the mortality was 2.0 times higher than in patients who did not have TFD (p less than 0.001). The difference in the mortality rate persisted after correction for the influence of age, sex, and diabetes mellitus. The higher mortality rate in patients who had TFD was most marked early in the postoperative period and was mainly caused by myocardial infarction. The incidence of myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular events was significantly increased in patients who had TFD compared with those who did not, particularly in the early postoperative period.

Arteriosclerosis in popliteal artery trifurcation as a predictor for myocardial infarction after arterial reconstructive operation.

The frequency of myocardial infarction and mortality within 30 days after lower limb vascular reconstruction, in relation to the extent of atherosclerotic lesions in the trifurcation of the popliteal artery, have been retrospectively analyzed in 158 consecutive patients reconstructed in the aortoiliac region and 239 consecutive patients undergoing femorodistal bypass. Among the patients without trifurcational disease (TFD) none had myocardial infarction develop postoperatively, as compared with four of the 50 patients with TFD in the aortoiliac series (p less than 0.05) and 18 of the 174 patients with TFD in the femorodistal series (p less than 0.05). In nine instances, the cause of death was myocardial infarction. The strong correlation between postoperative myocardial infarction and the presence of TFD, may be due to a direct correlation between coronary artery disease and TFD. The finding is of practical importance in the selection of treatment for patients with circulatory disorders of the lower limbs. The finding facilitates the preoperative identification of patients liable to have myocardial infarction develop. Indications for operation can be made more stringent and optimal intraoperative and postoperative monitoring can be instituted.

The diagnosis intermittent claudication. The value of walking test, ankle pressure index and calf plethysmography in relation to the clinical findings.

Three hundred and forty-nine patients with the diagnosis intermittent claudication (IC) based on Rose's questionnaire were all found to have clinical abnormality based on pulse palpation, and/or auscultation in lower abdomen and groin. The diagnosis was in the majority of cases (87-95%) confirmed by standardized walking test (WT), ankle pressure index (AI) and venous occlusion calf plethysmography (VOP). In clinical abnormality based on bruit only in groin, AI and VOP confirmed the diagnosis less frequently than in the other clinical abnormalities (p less than 0.01).