Background: Case Reports: Conclusions: C A S E R E P O R T Application of the 64-slice computed tomography as a diagnostic method in acute posttraumatic ischaemia of the upper limbs – 3 case reports Marta Waliszewska1, Aleksandra Jakubiak1, Maciej Guziński2, Marek Sąsiadek2 1 Students’ Scientific Group at Department of General Radiology, Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland 2 Department of General Radiology, Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland Author’s address: Marek Sąsiadek, Department of General Radiology, Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Wrocław Medical University, Borowska 213 Str., 50-556 Wrocław, Poland, e-mail: mareks@rad.am.wroc.pl Summary Acute limb ischaemia’ is a sudden, rapidly progressing inhibition of blood supply to a limb, characterised by appearance of new symptoms or by aggravation of the already existing ones, which may lead to amputation of the limb. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) performed with a multislice scanner belongs to methods used for arterial imaging in acute limb ischaemia. The main advantages of this method include: short examination time, low invasiveness, and possibility of a multiplanar and multivolume imaging of the vessels and adjacent tissues. We presented 3 cases of acute posttraumatic ischaemia of the upper limbs, diagnosed in the emergency setting with the use of a 64-slice CT scanner. The CTA examination performed with the 64-slice CT unit revealed high effectiveness when used for localisation of vascular pathologies resulting in acute ischaemia of the upper limbs. Owing to this rapid radiological diagnostic method, it is now possible to perform successful limb-saving surgeries and to introduce postoperative monitoring immediately after the procedure. Signature: © Pol J Radiol, 2010; 75(2): 94-97 Received: 2010.03.16 Accepted: 2010.03.31 Key words: acute ischaemia of the upper limbs • computed tomography angiography • CTA PDF file: http://www.polradiol.com/fulltxt.php?ICID=878523 Background Acute limb ischaemia (ALI) is a sudden or a rapidly pro- gressing inhibition of blood supply to a limb, character- ised by appearance of new symptoms or by aggravation of the already existing ones, such as: pulse loss, paleness, decrease in the limb temperature, impaired touch sensa- tion and loss of motor function of the limbs. No treatment or a delayed treatment of ALI may result in limb amputa- tion. ALI is much more frequent in the lower limbs, being a result of arteriosclerotic lesions. Other causes of lower limb acute ischaemia include an injury or a complication of a vascular procedure [1–3]. A more developed collateral circulation in the upper limbs results in a lower number of acute ischaemia incidents in this anatomical region. Such 94 incidents are mostly due to a thromboembolic mechanism or an injury. Their symptoms are less intense than in the case of lower limb ischaemia [4,5]. A method of growing diagnostic importance in cases of upper limb ischaemia is the computed tomography angiog- raphy (CTA), especially since the introduction of multislice (CT) units that allowed for scanning of long body parts, with acquisition of high-resolution images and a very good contrast enhancement of the vessels. In this work, we reported 3 cases of acute posttraumatic ischaemia of the upper limbs, diagnosed in the emergency setting with the use of the 64-slice CT scanner.