title: One of the most urgent vascular circumstances: Acute limb ischemia.
abstract: Acute limb ischemia is a sudden decrease in limb perfusion that threatens limb viability and requires urgent evaluation and management. Most of the causes of acute limb ischemia are thrombosis of a limb artery or bypass graft, embolism from the heart or a disease artery, dissection, and trauma. Assessment determines whether the limb is viable or irreversibly damaged. Prompt diagnosis and revascularization by means of catheter-based thrombolysis or thrombectomy and by surgery reduce the risk of limb loss and mortality. Amputation is performed in patients with irreversible damage. Despite urgent revascularization, amputation rate is 10%-15% in patients during hospitalization, mostly above the knee, and mortality within 1 year is 10%-15% due to the coexisting conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Kartal Kosuyolu Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Rezzan D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Acar
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Kartal Kosuyolu Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Muslum
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sahin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Kartal Kosuyolu Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cevat
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kirma
keywords: Acute limb ischemia; amputation; revascularization; thrombosis