Comparison of Limb Salvage Rate in Early Versus Delayed Presented Patients of Acute Lower Limb Ischemia Undergoing Revascularization

Abstract

Objective: To compare the limb salvage rate in early versus delayed presented patients of Rutherford Class IIB acute lower extremity ischemia undergoing revascularization. Study Design: Comparative prospective study Place and duration: Hayat Wali Medical Center, Rawalpindi Pakistan, from Apr 2019 to Mar 2020. Methodology: This study enrolled 42 patients, aged 20 to 70 years, with Rutherford Class IIB acute lower limb ischemia, which was divided into two groups. Group-I (delayed presented >6 hours) consist of 30 patients, and Group-II (early presented <6 hours) consist of 12 patients. All patients underwent embolectomy. The limb salvage rate was examined in the third postoperative month. Results: In Group-I, limb salvage was found in 18(60%) patients, while in Group-II, there were 11(91.67%) patients; a significant difference was observed between both groups (p-value <0.05). The mortality rate was high in Group-I (delayed presented) as compared to Group-II (16.67% vs 0%) with a p-value <0.05. Conclusion: The limb salvage rate was higher in early presented patients than delayed presented patients. Mortality and amputation rates were observed to be higher in delayed-presented patients.

Keywords

• Acute Lower Limb Ischemia
• Limb Salvage
• Revascularization