Arterial stump pressure: a determinant of arterial patency?

Twenty-seven patients with acute injuries to the radial or ulnar arteries had arterial repairs using microvascular techniques. No patient had an ischemic hand secondary to his arterial injury. The overall patency rate for all repaired vessels was 56%. For sharp, clean lacerations, the success rate for repairs was 55%. Repairs of acute, sharp lacerations yielded no better results than delayed reconstructions. The average distal end arterial stump pressure for patent arteries was 66% of mean, while for thrombosed vessels it was 76% of mean; this was not a statistically significant difference (p = 0.9). There was no statistical correlation between forearm arterial patency, age, sex, vessel injured, mechanism of injury, time of repair, or clinically measured distal arterial stump pressure. At the present time, it does not appear to be possible to predict arterial patency by measuring arterial stump pressure at the time of definitive repair.