page_title: Acute limb ischaemia
section_title: Surgery
hierarchical_section_title: Acute limb ischaemia / Treatment / Surgery
caption_attribution_description: English: Angiograph before and after thrombolytic therapy in a case of thrombosis on the hand.
context_page_description: Acute limb ischaemia occurs when there is a sudden lack of blood flow to a limb.
  Acute limb ischaemia is caused by embolism or thrombosis, or rarely by dissection or trauma. Thrombosis is usually caused by peripheral vascular disease, while an embolism is usually of cardiac origin. In the United States, ALI is estimated to occur in 14 out of every 100,000 people per year. With proper surgical care, acute limb ischaemia is a highly treatable condition; however, delayed treatment can result in permanent disability, amputation, and/or death.
  In contrast to acute limb ischemia, chronic limb threatening ischemia results from peripheral artery disease that develops over time. While limbs in both acute and chronic limb ischemia may be pulseless, a chronically ischemic limb is typically warm and pink due to a well-developed collateral artery network and does not need emergency intervention to avoid limb loss.
  The New Latin term ischaemia as written, is a British version of the word ischemia, and stems from the Greek terms ischein 'to hold'; and haima 'blood'. In this sense, ischaemia refers to the inhibition of blood flow to/through the limb.
context_section_description: The primary intervention in acute limb ischaemia is emergency embolectomy using a Fogarty Catheter, providing the limb is still viable within the 4-6h timeframe. Other options include a vascular bypass to route blood flow around the clot.
caption: Angiograph before and after thrombolytic treatment of acute limb ischemia.
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