In earthquake-induced crush and compartment syndrome, general anesthesia was widely preferred due to severe systemic instability, fasciotomy reduced muscle necrosis markers, and the preoperative albumin/lactate ratio was identified as a strong and independent predictor of mortality.
The vast majority of earthquake crush/compartment syndrome patients requiring surgery received general anesthesia due to systemic instability.
The 60-day mortality rate in surgically treated earthquake crush and compartment syndrome patients was 11.1%.
Fasciotomy resulted in significant decreases in muscle necrosis markers CK, AST, and ALT.
The preoperative albumin/lactate ratio was identified as a strong and independent predictor of 60-day mortality.
The study retrospectively analyzed data from 64 patients undergoing emergency surgery for earthquake-related crush and compartment syndrome over a two-month period.
This research examined how doctors managed anesthesia and surgery for 64 patients who developed crush syndrome and compartment syndrome — serious conditions where trapped muscles swell and begin to die — after the devastating February 2023 earthquakes in Kahramanmaraş, Turkey. The study looked at what happened to these patients over 60 days, including whether they survived, how their kidneys functioned, and how their muscle injury markers changed. Because these patients were so critically ill, nearly all of them (94%) needed general anesthesia rather than regional nerve blocks, since their bodies were too unstable for regional techniques to be safe or effective. The study found that surgical procedures like fasciotomy — where surgeons cut open the skin and tissue to relieve dangerous pressure buildup — led to measurable drops in blood markers of muscle damage (CK, AST, and ALT), even when the surgery was performed late. This suggests that performing fasciotomy, even with a delay, can help reduce the harmful effects of dying muscle tissue spreading through the body. The overall death rate within 60 days was about 11%, which reflects the severity of these injuries in a mass-casualty disaster setting. One of the most practically important findings was that a simple ratio calculated from two routine blood tests — albumin (a protein that reflects nutritional and inflammatory status) and lactate (a marker of poor oxygen delivery to tissues) — measured before surgery was able to predict which patients were at higher risk of dying. This research suggests that the preoperative albumin/lactate ratio could be a valuable, low-cost tool for quickly identifying the most critically ill patients in disaster settings where resources are limited and rapid triage decisions are essential.
Taygurt T, Erdem G, Taygurt S, Koç M. (2026). Anesthetic management and early outcomes in patients with earthquake-induced crush and compartment syndrome: A single-center retrospective an.. Ulusal travma ve acil cerrahi dergisi = Turkish journal of trauma & emergency surgery : TJTES. https://doi.org/10.14744/tjtes.2025.88870