Transcatheter embolization for the control of wound hemorrhage following hip surgery.

Angiography was done on sixteen patients with excessive bleeding from the wound following major hip surgery. In ten patients the bleeding site was so identified and the vessel was embolized with autologous clot or surgical gelatin. In six patients no site of bleeding could be seen. There was one angiographic complication: distal embolization to the popliteal artery. We concluded that angiography often may be helpful in localizing the site of excessive postoperative bleeding from a wound, and transcatheter embolization of the bleeding vessel then can be effective in controlling such bleeding.