Symptoms of Acute limb ischaemia can occur in patients through all age groups. Patients that smoke and have diabetes mellitus are at a higher risk of developing acute limb ischemia. Most cases involve people with atherosclerosis problems.
Symptoms of acute limb ischaemia include:
- Pain
- Pallor
- Paresthesias
- Perishingly cold
- Pulselessness
- Paralysis
These symptoms are called the six P’s. They are commonly misattributed to compartment syndrome. One more symptom would be the development of gangrene. Immediate medical attention should be sought with any of the symptoms. In late stages, paresthesia is replaced by anesthesia due to death of nerve cells. In some cases, gangrene can occur within six hours of ischemia. If the patient is fully anesthetic and paralyzed, it is often too late to save the limb.
Absolute contraindications
CVA/TIA in last 2 months
Active bleeding
Recent GI bleeding-last 10 days
Neurosurgery in the last 3 months
Intracranial trauma in last 3 months
Relative contraindications
CPR in the last 10 days
Major nonvascular surgery or trauma in the last 10 days
Uncontrolled HTN >180/110
Puncture of noncompressible vesse
Intracranial Tumor
Recent eye surgery