Arterial trauma: a remaining problem of increasing magnitude

In the absence of major armed conflict, the remaining challenges of managing acute arterial injuries are manifested by an increasing incidence of civilian arterial trauma. Although many of the basic principles of vascular surgery are well established, technical problems remain. Also, controversy persists in the management of associated venous trauma, immobilization of concomitant fractures, use of adjuvant measures such as fasciotomy, and the most appropriate conduit of choice for segmental arterial substitution, to name some of the representative problems. It is only through additional experimental and clinical evaluations that these remaining questions might be answered.