OBJECTIVETo investigate the biomechanical effect of major extremity vessels to choose appropriate repair methods for vascular injuries of the extremities.

METHODSThe data of 385 patients (337 males and 48 females, aged 18-71 years, mean=32.6 years) including 403 injured vessels, who suffered from vascular injuries of the extremities and were treated in our hospital from October 1960 to August 2005, were studied retrospectively in this article. We compared the results of different repair methods for the defect of vessels and evaluated different injured vessels for repairing arterial injuries with anastomosis and venous graft, respectively.

RESULTSA significant difference was found between the defect lengths of the arteries repaired with anastomosis and venous graft (P less than 0.0001). The upper limits of the confidence interval in the defect lengths of the brachial artery, the femoral artery and the popliteal artery were 3.43 cm, 2.38 cm and 2.42 cm, respectively, when repaired with anastomosis. The lower limits were 2.16 cm, 2.16 cm and 1.63 cm, respectively, when repaired with venous graft. The defect length of each artery repaired with venous graft had linear correlation with the graft length.

CONCLUSIONBecause of the longitudinal biomechanical difference of human peripheral vessels, different options of repair are necessary for different arterial injuries.