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Category: Volume 10 Issue 07 July 2022
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Title: Acute Compartment Syndrome of the Hand: A Case Report and Overview

Authors: Kastanis G, Trachanatzi E, Chaniotakis C, Tsatsoulas C, Pantouvaki A, Manolaraki M

 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v10i7.08

Abstract

Acute compartment syndrome of the hand is a rare pathological condition in which the size of the compartments of the hand could be decreased or the volume of the fluid intro compartment could be increased, or both. This urgent condition, if remains undiagnostic, produce irreversible changes (which are strong related to elapsed time) and may leading to amputation or to threatening life of the patients. Most common causes presented in literature are traumatic (crush injuries, burns, closed fractures), medical (infection, bleeding disorders), iatrogenic (intravenous infiltration, arthroscopy) and vascular (arterial puncture or catheterization, venous occlusion). The purpose of this study is bimodal. Firstly, to present a 34 year-old male who, after a traffic accident, presented with open diaphyseal fractures IIIA of the left 2nd and 3rd metacarpals and a Bennett fracture of the thumb and who developed an acute compartment syndrome. Secondly, to develop a sense of suspicion of this kind of lesions in physicians in the emergency department with scope to the precocious diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: Compartment syndrome, hand, edema, fasciotomy, metacarpal fractures.

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Corresponding Author

Grigorios Kastanis

Reconstructive Hand Surgery Unit, General Hospital of Heraklion –Venizeleio, Crete, Greece