Acute arterial thromboembolism of upper extremity

Purpose: Acute ischemia of the arm is uncommon compared with events in the leg and much less attention has been paid to the management of acute arterial thromboembolism of the upper extremities. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical aspects and treatment outcomes of acute upper extremity thromboembolism. Methods: From January 2007 to March 2010, seven patients underwent the management of upper extremity thromboembolism in three Seoul National University (SNU)-affiliated hospitals. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records. Results: The mean age was 64.6 years (range 48∼93 years) and 4 patients (57.1%) were female. Distribution of the thromboembolism were 4 in brachial, 1 in axillary plus brachial, 1 in ulnar and radial, and 1 in axillary artery, respectively. Time from symptom onset to presentation was 3.5 days (range 1∼10 days). Primary treatment modality were Fogarty catheter embolectomy in 3 cases, bypass surgery in 1 case, and urokinase thrombolysis in 2 cases. A patient without symptoms was treated conservatively. Patients receiving primary thrombolytic therapy underwent surgical approach due to recurred thromboembolism during admission. In our 11.2 months of mean follow-up, there was recurrence but 1 patient died from cerebral infarction after 1.5 year of discharge. Conclusion: In this study, functional outcome of acute upper extremity ischemia following appropriate treatments was excellent. Key features of treatment are shortening the time interval of diagnosis to primary treatment, proper anticoagulation, and treatment of underlying conditions. Larger-volume, long-term results and meta-analysis of upper extremity thromboembolism are required to establish standardized treatment in Korea.