Iatrogenic brachial artery injury during anterolateral plating of humeral shaft fracture

Abstract

【Abstract】There are several well defined indica- tions for surgical management of humeral shaft fractures. Operative procedures on the humerus are associated with their own complications. Iatrogenic brachial artery injury as a complication of humeral shaft plating has not been re- ported previously. We report a case of a 48 years old female, who received operation at a district hospital and was re- ferred to us when the surgeon could not palpate the pulse. CT angiogram showed that there was segmental non-opaci- fication of the brachial artery. There was distal reformation and the thrombosis was decided to be managed conser- Chin J Traumatol 2013;16(6):371-374 vatively. We believe that the arterial injury was a result of improper surgical technique and the segmental block might be due to improper use of plate holding forceps. This case report makes us aware of a rare complication of operative management of humeral shaft fractures and that basic prin- ciples of surgery must be always followed to prevent such injuries. Key words: Humeral fractures; Intraoperative complications; Brachial artery; Thrombosis; Angiography