The simple Fogarty embolectomy: an operation of the past?

We have found in reviewing our vascular cases that the Fogarty embolectomy is definitive treatment in only certain types of cases; in most it is an adjunct to more complex vascular surgery. In our cases, an embolectomy catheter was used as an integral part of the procedure in 130 (18%) cases. In 96 (74%) cases, an embolectomy alone was performed with a success rate of only 48% (46 cases). In 50 (52%) cases, the embolectomy was not adequate, requiring reoperation, a new bypass, or amputation within 7 to 10 days. Mortality rate for the series of 130 patients was 7.0%, and limb loss rate was 5.0%. The majority of cases (92) in this review were diagnosed with an acute exacerbation of diffuse peripheral vascular disease or a clotted graft, and it is in these patients that the success rate was so poor (17%) if embolectomy alone was performed. The population of patients presenting with suspected acute arterial insufficiency has changed over the past 30 years. Now it is the elderly who have an acute exacerbation of their peripheral vascular disease. It is this change in the population that has made the Simple Fogarty Embolectomy an operation of the past--mandating angiography, Fogarty embolectomy, and complex vascular reconstruction for limb salvage.