It is the sudden occlusion of a peripheral artery by an embolism that may threaten the viability of the affected limb.
The heart is the origin in most cases. Its first common cause is a type of arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation, and the second one is acute myocardial infarction. There are some risk factors that can influence it, like stenosis, narrowing of the mitral valve, rheumatic valvulitis, valvular prostheses, intracardiac tumours, etc.
It manifests as tingling, pain, an absence of pulse, paleness and paralysis of the limb.
It is diagnosed through the patient's medical history, a full physical examination and a Doppler ultrasound.
The prompt medical treatment is anticoagulation with heparin at a high dosage, and, immediately after, the embolism must be removed by emergency surgery (surgical embolectomy).
- Marc E Mitchell, Jeffrey P Carpenter. Overview of acute arterial occlusion of the extremities (acute limb ischemia). UpToDate. May 31, 2016.
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