Definition
Compartment syndrome is a surgical and intensive care emergency that should not be underestimated. Compartment syndrome is a swelling and damage to a muscle tissue that is constantly worsening on its own and can lead to severe muscle damage within a few hours. A compartment describes a delimited loge that includes several muscles and, if necessary, arteries, veins and nerves. The muscle strands are surrounded by so-called fasciae, delimited from each other and divided into the different compartments. The fasciae are very tensile and tear-resistant connective tissue leaves that do not expand elastically in the event of swelling and therefore exert pressure on the muscles.
Causes
The most common causes of compartment syndromes are accidents and operations. The former can trigger a compartment syndrome in several ways. On the one hand, a blunt contusion and compression of the muscles can lead to incarceration, minor bleeding and swelling.
A typical cause of this is a heavy object falling on the lower leg. On the other hand, a fracture of the tibia, for example, can damage the muscle. Individual bone fragments can cause cuts in the muscle and exert pressure on the compartment.
Operations are also a common cause of compartment syndrome on the lower leg. For example, after surgical treatment of a bone fracture, minor bleeding can lead to dangerous swelling in a muscle compartment. Surgical interventions always involve manipulation and injury to the tissue and are accompanied by minor bleeding, which is mostly stopped during the operation.
A very rare cause of compartment syndrome is muscle edema after excessive strain. This can occur on the lower leg, for example after marathons, and causes a chronic compartment syndrome. For an acute compartment syndrome to develop, however, the swelling must be sufficiently severe.
Smaller swellings and bruises can be compensated within the musculature until the body absorbs the fluid. However, if there is sufficient swelling, a vicious circle develops, which makes the compartment syndrome worse by itself. Once the pressure in the musculature is so high that the venous return of the blood is hindered, the swelling continues to increase until the arterial blood supply is also affected. From this point on, the muscle is not supplied with sufficient blood, which results in an acute need for action and can cause irreversible consequential damage.
