title: Retrospective assessment of vascular injuries: 23 years of experience.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze the operation methods, injury etiologies and localizations, post-operative complications and the reasons for mortality in patients who were admitted for peripheral vascular injuries to our clinics.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 1979 to February 2002, 410 patients were operated for peripheral vascular injuries. Three hundred and one of the patients were male (73.5%) and 109 of them were female (26.5%), and their ages ranged between 1-88 (mean 35.5 years).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most common etiological reason was firearm injuries in 163 patients (39.8%). The most common injured artery was the brachial artery (83 patients, 22.5%) among a total of 369 patients whereas the most commonly injured vein was the common femoral vein (60 patients, 23.4%) in a total of 256 patients. Isolated venous injuries were encountered in 41 patients whereas isolated arterial injuries were detected in 154 patients (37.5%). Hospital admission duration of the patients after trauma was approximately 3 hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The extremity-salvage rate in the group was 92.3%. The hospital stay period of the patients was 21.8 days. The mortality rate was 2.6% (11 patients).
authors.affiliation: From Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Gazi University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: Erkan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iriz
authors.forename: Fersat
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kolbakir
authors.forename: Atilla
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sarac
authors.forename: Haci
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akar
authors.forename: Hasan Tahsin
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Keçeligil
authors.forename: Mustafa Kemal
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Demirağ
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000293:injuries*; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000293:injuries; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003097:Collateral Circulation; D003161:Compartment Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis; D005121:Extremities / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005268:Femoral Vein / Q000293:injuries; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D018608:Ultrasonography, Doppler; D014656:Vascular Surgical Procedures