Can the arterial clamp method be used safely where a tourniquet cannot be used?

BACKGROUND: Clamp application is safe and widely used in the visceral organs. This raises the question: why not use clamping in orthopaedic, oncological, fracture and revision surgeries of areas where tourniquets are not suitable. This experimental animal study aimed to compare tourniquet and arterial clamp applications with regard to their histological effects and inflammatory responses on a molecular level, on the artery, vein, nerve and muscle tissue.

METHODS: Twenty-one rabbits were divided into three groups (group I: proximal femoral artery clamp; group II: proximal thigh tourniquet; and group III: control group). In the clamp group, the common femoral artery was clamped with a microvascular clamp for two hours. In the tourniquet group, a 12-inch cuff was applied to the proximal thigh for two hours at 200 mmHg. The common femoral artery, vein, nerve, rectus femoris and tibialis anterior muscles were excised and analysed in all groups.

RESULTS: Artery and vein endothelial injuries were found in the clamp and tourniquet groups (relative to the control group, p ≤ 0.001 and p = 0.007, respectively). However, no difference was found between the clamp and tourniquet groups regarding vessel wall injury.

CONCLUSIONS: We found there were no differences in incidence of vessel, muscle and nerve injury when comparing the tourniquet and clamp applications. For surgical procedures that are unsuited to a tourniquet, arterial clamping can be selected, resulting in close-to-tourniquet vessel injury rates but without tourniquet-related complications.