The effect of severe contusion on the vessels of the femoral region. An experimental morphological study.

Forty-one rats were subjected to a single blow in the femoral region from a heavy falling object. The contusion was directed towards the palpated femoral vessels in a standard manner. Transverse sections of the femoral artery and vein with branches, including adjacent muscle, were taken at 30 min, 24 hours, 2 weeks and 1 and 3 months after the injury and evaluated by light microscopy. The injuries to the femoral vessels and their branches at 30 min and 24 hours varied from partial destruction of the internal elastic lamina only to crush injury of the media together with thrombosis. Bleeding was always present. In the most severely injured arteries the vessel wall had ruptured. The findings at 2 weeks and 1 and 3 months were more discrete. The femoral vessels had remained patent, sometimes with permanent damage to the internal elastic lamina and rearranged architecture of the elastic tissue in the media. In a few cases recanalized thrombi were seen in arterial branches. Fibrosis of the femoral muscle was found at the level of trauma. Despite a single serious blow to the femoral region, however, there was no permanent major injury to the femoral artery or vein.