682 THE JOURNAL OF BONE AND JOINT SURGERY Occlusion of the Tibial Artery after a Foot Operation under

Vascular complications caused by a tourniquet are rare. They usually follow an unrecognized surgical injury to a vessel, as with the formation of an aneurysm or the development of Volkmann’s ischemic contracture. In the following case report, we show that thrombosis of an ar-tery due to disruption of an atheromatous plaque also can be a vascular complication after use of a pneumatic tour-niquet. Case Report L. C., a forty-three-year-old nurse’s aide, was admitted to the Good Samaritan Hospital on July 18, 1976, with the complaint of painful, de-formed feet. Four years before, she had undergone corrective tenotomies of the second through the fifth extensor tendons of both feet. One year later, a bunion operation was performed on the left foot. Because she had increasing pain and deformity. she was admitted for corrective surgery o