What is Vascular Trauma?
Vascular trauma occurs when a blood vessel sustains a severe injury. Vascular trauma affects either an artery or a vein or both. The trauma is often the result of an accident or injury, and can be mild, moderate, or severe. The symptoms are further classified into serious and less serious symptoms:
Serious symptoms:
- The absence of a pulse in the victim along with active haemorrhage.
- Restriction of the blood flow in the body.
- Intensive haematoma (bleeding outside of a blood vessel).
Less serious symptoms include:
- A slowed down distal pulse.
- An injury near a vital blood vessel.
- Decreased blood pressure or a state of shock.
Types of Vascular Trauma:
While vascular trauma is a diverse group of injuries they can be broadly classified as two main types:
Blunt injury – This means that the blood vessel has been crushed, pinched, twisted or stretched, but not pierced. Blunt vascular injuries that occur in the lower extremities are most common in the anteroposterior tibial arteries.
Penetrating injury – This means that the blood vessel has been torn, punctured or otherwise pierced.If penetrating injuries occur in the upper and lower limbs they may cause a greater variety of complex injuries.
Emergency Care for Vascular Trauma:
Immediately when the patient arrives for treatment a fast initial diagnosis is done, the patient’s vital signs are stabilized by effectively controlling the bleeding and they are quickly transported to a hospital.
After the patient arrives at the hospital, it is necessary to predetermine a possible trauma mechanism in order to find any collateral damage of the adjacent tissues. Then the patient is examined. The treatment for vascular trauma depends on the type of injury sustained, with more dangerous injuries requiring surgical intervention.
The Laser Vein Clinic has treated many emergency cases of vascular trauma. If you ever unfortunately suffer from vascular trauma, come to us for immediate, effective and safe treatment.