Major defect to the brachial artery following blunt trauma--a five year follow-up.

A 29-year-old soldier was injured when a collapsible side of an army truck fell on his left upper arm creating lesion to the brachial artery with a defect in the artery of about 10 cm in length. Injury to one brachial vein, of the same length, was also sustained without bone or neural injury. Intraoperative Doppler ultrasonography was performed. A reverse autologous saphenous vein interposition graft with a circumference similar to that of the injured brachial artery was used to perform end-to-end anastomosis between artery and reversed vein graft. The patient returned to his military formation 16 days post operatively, with a return to full military calisthenics routine 2 months after injury. Surgical and Doppler ultrasonography control was kept regularly. Excellent late result revascularization of the injured brachial artery with reversed interposition vein graft can be seen in CT angiography five years after injury.