Introduction:

Although controversial, tourniquets are widely used in orthopedic and trauma surgery with the aim of reducing intraoperative blood losses and improving the visibility of anatomical structures.

Objective:

To describe the practical applications and limitations of tourniquets in orthopedic and trauma surgery.

Method:

A non-systematic review of the literature was carried out, in scientific databases such as Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Pubmed / Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, ScienceDirect, OVID and the academic search engine Google Scholar, in the month of September 2020.

Conclusions:

Although tourniquets are widely used during orthopedic and trauma surgery, since they contribute to reducing intraoperative blood loss, the effect on increasing total blood loss has been demonstrated, as well as the association with perioperative pain, blood loss, limb muscle strength, peripheral nerve injuries, deep vein thrombosis and damage to distant organs due to the ischemia-reperfusion phenomenon.

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