late embolectomy for limb or knee salvage in acute lower limb ischemia: a new protocol

embolectomy has long been the gold standard for treating limbs acutely threatened by arterial occlusion. delayed embolectomy has not been investigated adequately due to the belief that accompanying mortality and morbidity render the case futile. following our previous experience with late arterial repair for leg or knee salvage i we applied the same principle to limbs threatened with prolonged ischemia as a result of missed emboli. in this study the response of patients with delayed embolectomy in a 2-year interval is evaluated. all of the patients who presented to shohada tajrish medical center, tehran, iran between 2001 to 2003 with prolonged ischemia of the lower limb (more than 12 hours) were selected for this study. all underwent embolectomy and prior to reinstitution of blood to the ischemic leg, all those with calf rigor underwent simultaneous venotomy and irrigation of the arterial tree with heparinized solution and were studied accordingly. of the total 76 patients 20% had muscle rigor on admission who underwent simultaneous venotomy and irrigation. the limb was salvaged in 45% of patients with above knee sensory deficit and 40% of those with above knee motor deficit. the salvage rates of the limb for below knee sensory and motor deficits were 79% and 85% respectively. we were able to save the knee in 20% of our patients. the short term m011ality rate in the whole was 9.2%. we had only one operative mortality in this high risk group of patients & our figures are lower than those reported in the literature, while at the same time we were able to salvage their limbs or knees.