[Clinical and angiographic follow-up of vascular injuries of the major arteries of the extremities].

Eighteen patients with major vessel trauma were reviewed three years after the accident. The follow-up included clinical examination and angiography. The morphological results were compared to the applied surgical technique of vessel repair. In all of our patients the blood supply to the injured extremity was clinically sufficient. Optimal morphological results were observed in our study in patients with transverse end-to-end-anastomoses with single stitch suture. If a direct anastomosis was not possible we generally used an autologous vein graft. The simultaneous repair of concomitant vein trauma diminishes the danger of a compartment syndrome.