Compartment syndrome as a complication of the Hauser procedure.

A compartment syndrome developed in eleven patients who had undergone the Hauser procedure. The residual disabilities ranged from mild weakness and contracture of the muscles in the anterior compartment of the leg to complete muscle necrosis necessitating above-the knee amputation in two patients. Dissections of ten cadaver limbs demonstrated that the anterior tibial recurrent vessels have numberous leash-like branches that terminate along the lateral border of the tibial tubercle. When these vessels are sectioned they retract laterally and distally under the fascia and within the muscles of the anterior compartment. It is postulated that continued postoperative bleeding from these vessels after the Hauser procedure may lead to an ischemic compartment syndrome in the leg.