Treatment of compartment syndrome in children.

A compartment syndrome is a symptom complex caused by elevated tissue pressure in a closed osseofascial compartment of a limb. Left unrecognized, it results in permanent damage to muscle and nerve in that compartment. The diagnosis of a compartment syndrome is contingent on the recognition of pain out of proportion with the injury as the most important early symptom. The pain is increased with passive stretching of the muscles in the involved compartment or on palpation of the involved muscles. Once the diagnosis is suspected, prompt treatment by appropriate fasciotomy should result in maintenance of normal limb function.