Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde
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Two 37-year-old men, both drug addicts, and a 32-year-old homeless woman presented themselves with a painful arm. Except for the first patient, there was a delay in diagnosing the compartment syndrome of the arm. In the first patient emergency fasciotomy led to a good functional recovery, however kidney function was lost despite proper treatment, possibly due to combined heroine use and muscle breakdown. ⋯ Major early symptoms of compartment syndrome are progressive disproportional pain and sensory loss, not relieved by analgesia. If left untreated, the ischaemic tissue damage is potentially limb and even life threatening. The acute compartment syndrome is a clinical diagnosis and a low threshold for surgical exploration and fasciotomy is advocated.
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In two patients, a girl aged 2 and a man aged 52 years, who had suffered a severe crush trauma, acute compartment syndrome of the foot was diagnosed. Decompression by means of one medial and two dorsal dermato-fasciotomy incisions was carried out and fractures of the metatarsals were repaired using K-wires. The girl recovered completely, but the man developed progressive necrosis in the flexors of the foot and on the skin on the foot sole which necessitated amputation of the foot. ⋯ A combined medial and dorsal approach is adopted to release the foot compartments; three incisions are usually sufficient. If fractures are present, these are repaired at the same time. Within four hours an unnoticed compartment syndrome can lead to irreversible ischaemia of the nerves and muscle tissue with long-term irreversible consequences.