PAI is associated with substantial morbidity and increased healthcare utilization following severe knee trauma, reinforcing the need for comprehensive vascular assessment, particularly in knee dislocation-related injuries.
Popliteal artery injury (PAI) was uncommon among adults hospitalized with severe knee trauma, with a weighted prevalence of 0.38%.
Knee dislocation was the strongest predictor of PAI among the severe knee trauma types studied.
After propensity score matching, PAI was associated with higher odds of any medical complication, including respiratory failure/mechanical ventilation and acute kidney injury.
PAI was associated with substantially higher odds of any surgical complication.
PAI was associated with higher odds of 30-day unplanned readmission.
PAI was associated with a markedly longer hospital stay.
The authors caution that the associations are observational and should not be interpreted as causal.
This study used a large US national hospital database covering 2016-2020 to look at how often the artery behind the knee (the popliteal artery) is injured in adults hospitalized with serious knee trauma, such as knee dislocations, ligament injuries, and fractures around the knee. Among about 211,000 hospitalizations, fewer than 1 in 250 (0.38%) involved this artery injury. Knee dislocation was the strongest predictor of it. When patients with and without artery injury were compared after statistically matching them on baseline characteristics, those with artery injury had higher odds of medical complications such as respiratory failure or needing a ventilator and acute kidney injury. They also had higher odds of surgical complications and of unplanned hospital readmission within 30 days, and they stayed in the hospital about 9 more days on average. This research suggests that although artery injury is rare, it is linked to serious complications and greater use of healthcare resources, which supports careful vascular assessment after severe knee trauma, especially knee dislocations. Because this was an observational study using administrative data, it shows associations only and cannot prove that the artery injury itself caused the worse outcomes.
Teng H. (2026). Prevalence and Impact of Popliteal Artery Injury Associated with Knee Dislocations, Ligament Injuries, and Peri-Knee Fractures: Analysis of the Nationwide Readmission Database, 2016-2020.. Journal of investigative surgery : the official journal of the Academy of Surgical Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941939.2026.2749354