Arterial embolectomy in the leg. Results in a referral hospital.

The clinical characteristics and course of 90 patients in whom 121 arterial emboli occurred from 1968 to 1978 were reviewed. The factor that correlated most significantly with a favorable outcome was the interval from onset of symptoms until arterial embolectomy was performed. The results of embolectomy were excellent in the patients operated on within 6 hours of symptoms (amputation rate 4 percent, mortality rate 15 percent), but less favorable in the patients operated on within 6 to 12 hours of onset of symptoms (amputation rate 27 percent, mortality 40 percent). Mortality (48 percent) and amputation (52 percent) rates in the patients operated on 12 to 48 hours after onset of symptoms were excessive. It is recommended that immediate embolectomy be performed in all potentially viable extremities in patients who present within 12 hours of symptoms, but that after 12 hours only those limbs with obvious viability (not paralyzed or anesthetic) should be operated on. Alternatives for the remainder are high dose intravenous heparinization or expedient amputation. In patients who present greater than 60 hours after the onset of symptoms, embolectomy can be performed with low morbidity and mortality.