6. What are the characteristics of a full thickness arterial tear?
Correct answer: All layers of the artery are divided, and this may be partial or complete. Partial tears bleed copiously, while complete division of the artery often results in contracture and spasm of the divided vessel with surprisingly little blood…
5. What is the commonest cause of an intimal tear arterial injury? What happens when there is an intimal tear?
Correct answer: This injury is usually the result of distraction, where the artery is stretched and the intimal layer tears, while the surrounding adventitia remains intact. The intima then buckles and causes a localized stenosis, which may or may not…
4. What are the three general types of arterial injury?
Correct answer: Mural contusion with secondary spasm; intimal tear; full thickness tear
3. What is a penetrating arterial injury? Give some examples
Correct answer: Penetrating arterial injuries may result from gunshot wounds, stabbing, penetration by bone spicules in fractures or iatrogenic injury.
2. What is a closed arterial injury? Give three examples
Correct answer: The artery is injured by extraneous compression such as a crush injury, fractures of adjacent bones with displacement of the artery (e.g. supracondylar fracture of the humerus in children) or joint dislocation. Iatrogenic causes include a tight plaster…
1. What are the two general types of arterial trauma?
Correct answer: Traumatic arterial injuries are due to either closed (blunt) trauma or open (penetrating) trauma.
13. What is the effect of hypothermic injury and ischaemia following cardiopulmonary bypass?
Correct answer: This may result in pancreatitis and contribute to the occurrence of peptic ulceration and mesenteric ischaemia.
12. What is the effect on the blood as it passes through the cardiopulmonary bypass circuit?
Correct answer: Passage through the bypass circuits activates the clotting cascade and consumes platelets, thus increasing the risk of haemorrhage.
11. What is the effect of haemorrhage following cardiopulmonary bypass?
Correct answer: Haemorrhage postoperatively may result in cardiac tamponade. Passage through the bypass circuit activates the clotting cascade and consumes platelets, thus increasing the risk of haemorrhage.
10. What is the effect of emboli following cardiopulmonary bypass?
Correct answer: Air entrapped during formation of the bypass circuit or entering during bypass, or thrombus forming in the bypass circuit, may embolize into the cerebral and peripheral circulation with catastrophic results.
