Hello, my name is Cindy. I live in the suburbs of Sydney with my family. Although I would occasionally visit the doctor when I was feeling too good or if one of the children had a cold. However, my whole view on doctors changed when I found a lump on breast last year. I went to my GP in a panic, but he was a real sweetie. He calmed me down and explained he would refer me for a further investigation. Thankfully, they caught my cancer early and after some treatment, I made a full recovery. Since this close call, I have taken a keen interest in everything health related.
Acute limb ischemia is an extremely serious, potentially life-threatening condition which prevents blood from flowing into a limb (usually a leg). Read on to learn more.
Symptoms
One of the most common symptoms of acute limb ischemia is a persistent and severe pain in the affected limb which cannot be eased with painkillers or rest. Sufferers may also find that the affected limb initially turns very pale and smooth (due to the lack of blood flowing through it). However, as the condition progresses, the skin in this area of the body may start to turn a mottled, bluish colour. If the person does not undergo treatment at this point, they may develop gangrene in their limb, which could lead to it turning black and becoming extremely swollen.
People with this condition may also experience paralysis in their limb and be unable to locate a pulse in it. Additionally, they may notice that the skin in this area of their body feels very cold to the touch.
Risk factors
There are a number of things that can increase a person's chances of developing acute limb ischemia. These include smoking cigarettes, having chronically high blood pressure (which is not managed with medication) or having high cholesterol levels.
People who suffer from diabetes (either type 1 and type 2) have also been found to have a greater chance of developing this condition.
Treatment
As mentioned above, acute limb ischemia can be life-threatening. As such, anyone who is diagnosed with this condition will usually be referred to a vascular surgeon immediately.
In most cases of this kind, the surgeon will perform a surgical procedure called a thrombectomy so that they can remove the thrombus (i.e., the blood clot) which is preventing blood from entering the limb. During this operation, the vascular surgeon will create an incision in the affected limb and then insert a catheter attached to a tiny balloon into the appropriate blood vessel.
The balloon component helps to open up the blood vessel and thus makes it easier to reach the thrombus, whilst the catheter enables the surgeon to insert very small surgical instruments into the blood vessel, which they can then use to break the thrombus up.
After they have broken apart the thrombus, they will then attach a suction tool to the catheter in order to pull the broken pieces of thrombus out of the blood vessel. Both the balloon and the catheter are then removed and the incision is sutured.
Share27 April 2018
