A proposed etiology for tourniquet-induced neuropathies.

Pneumatic tourniquets are used in limb surgery to provide a bloodless operating field, but they can also cause nerve injuries. These injuries are thought to be mechanically induced, although no previous work has quantified such a mechanism. This paper hypothesizes that axial compression of the nerve leads to damage at the nodes of Ranvier and presents simulation results based on this hypothesis which are in substantial agreement with clinical observations.