Management of Upper Extremity Vascular Injury: Outcome Related to the Mangled Extremity Severity Score

Abstract

MESS, an outcome score used to grade the severity of extremity injuries, correlates well with the risk of amputation. Nevertheless, a MESS of >or=7 does not always mandate amputation. On the other hand, the MESS is a better predictor for patients who do not require amputation when the score is <7. The decisions to amputate in patients should be made individually based on clinical signs and an intraoperative finding of irreversible limb ischemia.