Objective: To describe the associations between mechanism of injury energy level and neurovascular injury (NVI) following knee dislocation (KD) using a large representative sample of trauma patients and to examine risk factors within these groups.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Trauma centers participating in the American College of Surgeons National Trauma Data Bank.
Participants: Adult patients with KD without lower extremity fracture.
Intervention: Patients were grouped as ultra-low, low, or high-energy based on injury mechanism. Univariate/multivariate analyses assessed associations of energy level with NVI and of patient characteristics with NVI within energy-level groups.
Main outcome measurements: Rate of nerve and blood vessel injury.
Results: One hundred twenty-four patients with KD were identified; 181 sustained ultra-low-energy mechanisms, 275 low-energy, and 868 high-energy. Nerve injury occurred in 6% of ultra-low-energy injuries, 7% in low-energy, and 3% in high-energy (P = 0.03). Vessel injury occurred in 21% of ultra-low-energy injuries, 17% in low-energy, and 13% in high-energy (P = 0.01). On multivariate analyses, obesity was associated with nerve injury in the ultra-low-energy group (OR 4.9; 95% CI 1.0-24.0) but not with other energy levels. Obesity was also associated with vessel injury in the ultra-low-energy group (OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.6-9.7). Smoking, hypertension, and diabetes were not associated with NVI.
Conclusions: NVI following KD is more common after lower energy-level mechanisms. Obesity is associated with NVI in lower energy-level mechanisms. Physicians should be vigilant in screening for NVI in the setting of KD even with seemingly benign mechanisms of injury, especially in patients with obesity.
Level of evidence: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.