Embolus of surgical adhesive to the extremities causing acute ischemia: report of two cases.

We present 2 cases in which a surgical adhesive embolized to the extremities. In the first case an adhesive was successfully used in the repair of a DeBakey type I aortic dissection. The patient was seen 2 months postoperatively with acute lower extremity ischemia, and a large piece of adhesive was extracted from the iliac and femoral arteries at embolectomy. In the second case the adhesive was used to seal a pericardial patch during repair of a ventricular septal defect. This patient was seen 1 day postoperatively with acute arm ischemia, and the adhesive particle was extracted from the brachial artery during embolectomy.