Arterial Occlusion

Arterial Occlusion is a topic covered in the 5-Minute Emergency Consult.

To view the entire topic, please or purchase a subscription.

Emergency Central is a collection of disease, drug, and test information including 5-Minute Emergency Medicine Consult, Davis’s Drug, McGraw-Hill Medical’s Diagnosaurus®, Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests, and MEDLINE Journals created for emergency medicine professionals. Explore these free sample topics:

Emergency Central

-- The first section of this topic is shown below --

Basics

Description

Immediate and severe compromise of the blood supply to a limb, threatening its viability, secondary to the sudden blockage of a peripheral artery
  • Arterial embolization
    • Thrombus or plaque
    • Originates from aneurysms or atherosclerotic lesions
    • Emboli typically lodge where there is an acute narrowing of the artery
    • 75% of emboli involve an axial limb vasculature
      • Femoral 28%
      • Arm 20%
      • Aortoiliac 18%
      • Popliteal 17%
      • Visceral and other 9%
  • Thrombosis
  • Arterial dissection
  • Trauma
    • Crush injuries
    • Compression
    • Arterial contusion and thrombosis
    • Arterial transection
  • Limb ischemia >6 hr usually results in functional impairment or limb loss.
    • If acute on chronic, collateral circulation may preserve tissue beyond 6 hr.

Etiology

  • Embolus:
    • Atrial fibrillation
    • Myocardial infarction
    • Valvular disease
    • Endocarditis
    • Atrial myxoma
    • Aneurysm
    • Atherosclerotic plaques
    • Paradoxical embolus
      • Patent foramen ovale
  • Thrombosis
    • Vascular grafts
    • Atherosclerosis
    • Thrombosis of an aneurysm
    • Entrapment syndrome
    • Blood clotting disorders
    • Low flow state
    • Heparin-induced thrombosis
  • Arterial dissection
  • Arterial injury:
    • Intimal flap
    • Dissection
    • Pseudoaneurysms
    • Iatrogenic
      • Catheterization
      • Arteriography
      • Balloon angioplasty
      • Complication of arterial puncture
    • Penetrating trauma
      • Gunshot, stab wounds, shotgun, shrapnel
      • IV drug use
    • Blunt trauma
      • Joint displacement
      • Fracture
      • Compartment syndrome

-- To view the remaining sections of this topic, please or purchase a subscription --

Citation

* When formatting your citation, note that all book, journal, and database titles should be italicized* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
TY - ELEC T1 - Arterial Occlusion ID - 307447 Y1 - 2016 PB - 5-Minute Emergency Consult UR - https://emergency.unboundmedicine.com/emergency/view/5-Minute_Emergency_Consult/307447/all/Arterial_Occlusion ER -