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Lindsey Vonn Leaves Hospital, Says Emergency Surgery Saved Her Leg After Olympic Crash

She outlines a yearlong rehabilitation after complications from compartment syndrome.

Overview

  • Vonn said a fasciotomy by U.S. team surgeon Tom Hackett prevented an amputation after she developed compartment syndrome.
  • She was hospitalized for more than two weeks, initially treated and operated on in Treviso before being transferred to the United States after 10 days.
  • Her injuries included fractures to the fibular head and tibial plateau, and she said she underwent four operations.
  • Vonn had chosen to start the downhill despite a torn left ACL sustained on January 30 in Switzerland.
  • She plans to progress from a wheelchair to crutches within weeks and expects roughly a year for bone healing before considering hardware removal and ACL repair.