Traumatic Extremity Injuries

Traumatic Extremity injuries can be divided into upper and lower extremity injuries. Upper extremity trauma usually involves a fracture of the shoulder or head of the humerus, dislocation of the humerus, humeral shaft fracture, elbow fracture, radial, and ulnar fractures, and wrist or hand fractures.

Point-of-care ultrasound and Color flow Duplex Doppler ultrasound are widely available, cheaper, noninvasive, and faster to obtain. They can provide bedside valuable information for the identification of some vascular injuries allowing integrated management of the trauma patient, enriched by the use of ultrasound.

Which ultrasound is suitable for Traumatic Extremity Injuries evaluation?

Using the Convex and Linear Color Doppler Wi-Fi Double Head Ultrasound Scanner CLCD is highly recommended to our Orthopedist clients. In which, Vascular injuries of the extremities and neck must be investigated with high-frequency linear transducers; because a higher resolution and a lower penetration are commonly needed. There are some exceptions, such as patients with large hematomas and super obese patients, in which a convex probe with higher penetration is recommended.

If there is a suspected nerve injury, the doctor can check the nerve function of muscles distal to the injury. A nerve stimulation test can be done to see if the fracture or other injury had impinged on a nerve. Doppler ultrasound can assess the pulses distal to the injury to assess whether or not the arterial blood flow has been injured. This kind of injury requires emergent surgery to restore circulation to the affected arm or leg.

In the extremities and neck Point of care, ultrasound is used for the diagnosis of fractures, hematomas, and the identification of foreign bodies. At the same time, in stable patients without hard signs of vascular damage, it could be of great help for a prompt bedside diagnosis, characterization, and monitoring of trauma-related vascular injuries.

To sum up, Color Doppler duplex sonography is valuable in the diagnosis and monitoring of most extremity injuries and in the treatment of fractures and hematomas. It is useful for flow analysis and for follow-up after treatment.

References: Extremity Trauma, Sonography Evaluation of Vascular Injuries, 

Disclaimer: Although the information we provide is used by different doctors and medical staff to perform their procedures and clinical applications, the information contained in this article is for consideration only. SONOSIF is not responsible neither for the misuse of the device nor for the wrong or random generalizability of the device in all clinical applications or procedures mentioned in our articles. Users must have the proper training and skills to perform the procedure with each ultrasound scanner device.

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