Immediate and long-term outcome of acute arterial occlusion of the extremities. The effect of added vascular reconstruction

T. Field, F. N. Littooy and W. H. Baker

Patients with acute arterial occlusion in immediate danger of limb loss, are frequently high-risk surgical candidates, yet a simple balloon thromboembolectomy often does not suffice for limb salvage. With this in mind, we studied 61 male patients with acute arterial occlusions to assess the effects of added vascular procedures at the time of initial thromboembolectomy. Forty-three patients had only thromboembolectomy, but 18 required additional vascular reconstructive procedures. Immediate limb salvage (83.3%) and long-term limb salvage (67%) in these 18 patients, who had no operative deaths, were similar to those of the other 43 patients. Surgical therapy including needed additional vascular reconstruction of acute arterial occlusions results in not only satisfactory short-term but also good long-term functional outcome.