Compartment Syndrome: Raised Compartment Pressure, Muscle Ischaemia and Fasciotomy

Surgery IV deck on what happens when the pressure inside a fixed muscle compartment rises above venous pressure and capillary perfusion fails: the external causes that shrink the compartment such as casts, splints, occlusive dressings and a burn eschar, the internal causes that increase its volume such as bleeding and swelling, and the pain on passive stretching that should raise the alarm. It distinguishes the simple from the comminuted and open fracture, and lists what is lost if it is missed - Volkmann's contracture, paralysis, myoglobinuria and renal failure and limb loss - with the fasciotomy that treats it.