Twenty-five cases of anterior tibial
compartment syndrome in twenty-four patients were
seen as complications of fractures of the shaft of the
tibia. Six patients had fasciotomy within the first six
hours of the onset of their symptoms and signs and all
made an uneventful recovery. Eighteen patients, in
whom treatment was withheld for an average of
eighteen hours, were left with a variety of complica
tions including persistent weakness of dorsiflexion in
fourteen, a complete footdrop in three, and the neces
sity for a below-the-knee amputation in one.