Abstract

Although skeletal muscle and peripheral nerves are both resistant to ischaemia there are nevertheless many syndromes in which they are affected, either separately or together. It is frequently difficult to distinguish the effects of arterial ischaemia from those of compression, which may operate through vascular occlusion, or, in the case of peripheral nerve, by mechanical deformation of nerve fibres. A great deal has been learned from experimental models, but not all of it is applicable to the complexity of human neuromuscular ischaemia which requires further study.