The compartments of the foot revisited : Rethinking the validity of cadaver infusion experiments

• Published in: Journal of bone and joint surgery. British volume Vol. 83; no. 2; pp. 245 - 249
• Main Authors: GUYTON, G. P, SHEARMAN, C. M, SALTZMAN, C. L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London British Editorial Society of Bone and Joint Surgery 01.03.2001
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Cadaver; Compartment Syndromes - etiology; Contrast Media; Foot - anatomy & histology; Foot - diagnostic imaging; Humans; Injections; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Iohexol; Medical sciences; Osteoarticular system. Muscles; Pathology. Cytology. Biochemistry. Spectrometry. Miscellaneous investigative techniques; Pressure; Reproducibility of Results; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Human; Radiodiagnosis; Iohexol; Lower limb; Exploration; Injection; Anatomy; Experimental study; In vitro; Iodine Organic compounds; Foot; Vascularization; Osteoarticular system; Validity; Medical imagery; Body compartment; Computerized axial tomography; Pressure measurement; Cadaver; Contrast media
• ISSN: 0301-620X; 2044-5377
• DOI: 10.1302/0301-620X.83B2.0830245

Previous dye-infusion experiments on cadavers have suggested that the hindfoot should be divided into four muscle compartments including a newly described 'calcaneal' element containing quadratus plantae. Since there are no clinical data to support this proposed division, we re-examined the validity of the infusion experiment. We made infusions of dilute Omnipaque at a constant rate into flexor digitorum brevis of four cadaver feet. We monitored the spread of the infusate by real-time CT imaging and measured the pressures at the infusion site by side-ported needles. In all feet, the barrier between flexor digitorum brevis and quadratus plantae became incompetent at pressures of less than 10 mmHg. Pressure gradients in this range cannot be expected to affect tissue perfusion significantly and independently generate compartment syndromes. These results do not confirm those of previous studies carried out by uncontrolled and unmonitored injections made by hand. Injection studies in cadaver limbs can give dramatically different results depending upon the assumptions made when designing the experiment. The technique cannot adequately act as a model of the physiology of the compartment syndrome. As the existence of a physiologically significant compartmental boundary between flexor digitorum brevis and quadratus plantae is based solely on a cadaver infusion experiment the presence of a 'calcaneal' compartment has not been confirmed.