Pathophysiology
- Injury within fascial compartment can cause bleeding or swelling
- This leads to increasing pressure within the non-elastic compartment
- Reduced perfusion leads to vicious cycle of swelling and oedema within the starved tissue
Local trauma and soft tissue destruction > bleeding and oedema > increased interstitial
pressure
> microvascular and macrovascular occlusion > myoneural ischaemia
- Ischaemia can result in permanent damage and disability if not recognised and treated promptly
- Compression of the larger vessels (arteries) is a very late feature
