Le garrot pneumatique

The pneumatic tourniquet is commonly used in orthopedic upper and lower limbs surgery to facilitate the operative procedure. It may induce regional and systemic adverse effects such as the ischemia-reperfusion syndrome. The tourniquet must be placed as distal as possible. Inflation pressure is 50 to 75 mmHg higher than the arterial occluding pressure. The duration of inflation should be less than one hour. Transient deflation could be performed after 45-60 minutes but no later than 90 minutes. The tourniquet should be deflated before the end of the surgical procedure to allow surgical haemostasis. Further to deflation the limb must be monitored to make an early diagnosis of neurological and/or vascular (arterial and venous) complications.