Upper Extremity Compartment Syndrome Following Radial Artery Puncture in a Patient Undergoing Orthotopic Liver Transplant.

Upper Extremity Compartment Syndrome Following Radial Artery Puncture in a Patient Undergoing Orthotopic Liver Transplant. Exp Clin Transplant. 2018 Oct 05;: Authors: Lipton M, Aniskevich S Abstract Acute compartment syndrome is the physiologic consequence of increasing pressures within an enclosed anatomic space; if left untreated, it can subsequently cause irreversible necrosis, nerve injury, and tissue damage. A number of iatrogenic causes have been reported in the literature; however, to the best of our knowledge, there are no prior reports of upper extremity compartment syndrome in orthotopic liver transplant following arterial line placement. Here, we report a 52-year-old male with a history of end-stage liver disease secondary to primary sclerosing cholangitis who presented for orthotopic liver transplant. A radial arterial line with 20-gauge catheter was placed atraumatically without complication. Intraoperatively, the patient developed severe coagulopathy. The cause was likely multifactorial, including dilution of factors from the massive blood loss during the dissection phase, a prolonged anhepatic period, and delayed graft function, resulting in decreased production of coagulation factors. This consumptive process likely subjected minor vascular injury to potential bleeding and caused a slow cumulative bleed into the right forearm, resulting in compartment syndrome. This case exemplifies the complications that can occur fr...
Source: Experimental and Clinical Transplantation : official journal of the Middle East Society for Organ Transplantation - Category: Transplant Surgery Authors: Tags: Exp Clin Transplant Source Type: research