EM Quick Hits Video on Compartment Syndrome recognition and management with Arun Sayal

Compartment syndrome clinical pitfalls

  • Do not rely on the presence of a fracture to suspect the possibility of compartment syndrome; 30% of compartment syndromes.are due to injuries that do not involve fractures, such as high pressure injection injuries, tight casts and dressings, soft tissue injuries, burns, extravasation of IV fluids.
  • Do not dismiss the possibility of compartment syndrome in the setting of an open fracture.
  • Do not dismiss the possibility of compartment syndrome when pain is the only finding; of the 6 Ps (Pain, Paresthesias, Paralysis, Pulselessness, Palor, Poikilothermia), all except pain are often not present when patients initially present to the ED.
  • Pain out of proportion, especially with passive stretch of the compartment, in addition to a palpable tight/tender compartment is enough to suspect the diagnosis
  • Measurement of compartment pressures using a Stryker needle are inaccurate and may be misleading in the diagnosis of compartment syndrome; measurement of compartment pressure should not be a prerequisite for consulting orthopedic surgery for a suspected compartment syndrome

The Podcast: EM Quick Hits 9 – Burn Blister Debridement, ECG Cases, Compartment Syndrome, Pediatric Asthma, Spinal Trauma & Motivational Interviewing

In each EM Quick Hits Video, our team hand picks an EM Quick Hits podcast segment and curates a video to enhance you multimodal learning.

Our EM Quick Hits Video team is: Lara Murphy, Yajur Iyengar and Jonathan Whittall