EMERGENCY ARTERIAL EMBOLECTOMY
IN ACUTE ARTERIAL EMBOLISM OF THE EXTREMITIES

Won, Hyung Seob; Park, Jeong Bae; Pyo, Chang Hae; Lee, Keun; Park, Cheol Wan; Cho, Sang Hoon; Kim, Sang Il

J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 7(2); 1996 > Article

Original Article

Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 1996;7(2): 195-201.

EMERGENCY ARTERIAL EMBOLECTOMY IN ACUTE ARTERIAL EMBOLISM OF THE EXTREMITIES

Hyung Seob Won, Jeong Bae Park, Chang Hae Pyo, Keun Lee, Cheol Wan Park, Sang Hoon Cho, Sang Il Kim

Department of Emergency Medicine · Vascular Surgery, JoonglAng Gil General Hospital, Incheon, Korea

Published online: June 30, 1996.

ABSTRACT

Acute arterial occlusion of the extremities is often a surgical emergency and is due mostly to arterial embolus. It has infrequently been reported in the emergency department. Cardiac embolism is most commonly the result of atrial fibrillation secondary to valvular heart disease followed by ischemic heart disease. The emergency arterial embolectomy by Fogarty balloon catheter works well when the cause of occlusion is cardiac embolus obstructing normal vessels in a patient with valvular heart disease. Recently we met some patients with acute critical ischemia of the extremities due to arterial emboli in our emergency department. On physical examination, they all had symptoms of 5''P's(pain, pallor, pulselessness, paresthesia, paralysis). After emergency arterial embolectomy, immediate improvement was observed in all patients. They were discharged within 1 week. We report our experiences with the review of literatures.

Key words: Arterial embolectomy, embolism