Management of Peripheral Arterial Embolism

Abstract

This study included one hundred patients with peripheral arterial embolism. The average age was 45 years with predominence of female over male patients (3:2). The source of emboli was found to be the left side of the heart in 90% of patients. Rheumatic heart disease was the primary cardiopathy in 70% of the cases. Eight percent of the patients were presented more than 24 hours after the onset of symptoms and embolectomy was carried out in 77% of cases. The pur pose of this study is to clarify the magnitude of the problem as to the etiology, different clinical presentations and the operative results after embolectomy us ing a Fogarty balloon catheter and its relation to time interval.